Mistaken Identity
by millenium-writer
Summary: Granted powers from a genetically altered spider, and bad press, you'd think Peter's life couldn't get more chaotic. But add a psychotic goddess, her divine sister, a luddite, and yet another clown in spandex, and you've got a case of mistaken identity.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer - I do not own Spiderman, any of it's characters, music used in the movies, any of that good stuff. However, I do own said hero in this fic, SO HANDS OFF! You wanna borrow him? send me an e-mail and we'll talk about it.

I'd also like to point out that this is a rewrite. Hopefully, it sucks much less now than it did before.

Mistaken Identity

Prologue

And they say that a hero can save us...

-

New York city NY, a crowded and sleepless city full of crime and senseless violence, where people are more concerned with their own lives and problems than others. A city where blame is passed on to another rather than shouldered, where money and violence can solve anything, given enough of one or the other.

Tonight is like no other, as a dozen heavily armed thugs have taken up short term residence in a bank on 53rd street along with dozens of hostages and bank employees. Police outside set up a blockade of cars, armored S.W.A.T. vans, diligent men and women, a thin blue line that kept the wave of New Yorkers from flooding the scene. Police negotiators stood at the edge of the blockade and at telephone booths, with hand sets and bullhorns in hand, pleading for the men to either give up, or release hostages.

Reporters strained against the barricades and police holding them back from getting a scoop that was sure to capture some meager amount of acclaim, with microphones, tape recorders, video cameras both hand and full sized, trying to bargain their way inside, or at least a foot closer to the scene of the crime.

A lone figure, farther off from the clamoring mob of information hungry word dogs silently hopped a wooden barrier and walked towards the large bank. Some people pointed, others spoke to those beside them, the few media members who noticed turned their various devices towards the figure, and others shouted out jealous insults and expletives.

Calmly walking up the cement steps the person pushed one of the many mostly glass doors open and walked inside, ignoring the looks of desperation and fear from the few people tied up just inside the entrance. One of the masked and black clad robbers turned and began shouting, pointing his assault rifle and shaking it.

Turning, the newcomer looked at the man for a moment, keeping one hand in his pocket as he casually looked him over with uncaring eyes. The thug stepped forwards and raised his rifle to strike the newcomer in the face, and was knocked off his feet by the heel that smashed into his jaw before he could react.

Turning at the sudden noise, a pair of black clad men with masks stared at the scene, the newcomer letting his leg drop to the floor as he turned to face them, one hand still in his pocket, staring at them with cold eyes. The pair raised their rifles and let off a long stream of bullets that blew dozens of holes in the glass windows at the front of the bank, shattering them completely.

The police and S.W.A.T. outside reacted instantly, making sure the people outside got away, down, or behind cover while either doing the same themselves, or closing in on the bank. One pair of the media mob, a reporter and his cameraman dropped flat and began recording, the cameraman zooming in on what he could see through the bank's doors.

A black clad body slammed into the metal door frame and slumped to the ground, there was another staccato crack of gunfire and more glass exploded. The first figure stood up and held his head with one hand, the other shakily raised his gun, and a yellow and black blur slammed shoulder first into the mans stomach, doubling him over. A second man in black, sans rifle ran up and doubled over as well as the black and yellow clad figure drove a foot into his stomach, sending the thug stumbling back a pace or two.

The good samaritin dropped into a low crouch and sprung up, landing on both assailants shoulders and driving the men's faces into the hard concrete floor. Straightening up, the man stepped away from the limp bodies and turned his head, looking straight at the cameraman sprawled out in the parking lot a hundred yards away.

Cursing, the cameraman fumbled with his rig, struggling to straighten the bulky device out.

"Christ Frank, that things worth more than we can afford, what the hell happened?" Rick O'Nassy was the up and coming reported of the week at channel six. He was known for his ability to ferret out scoops on drug deals and mob hits like nobody's business. He also had a pill popping habit that he didn't like to talk about, and a nasty right hook. But he got the goods, so most of the time, his employers looked the other way.

"Worth more than you can afford maybe..." Frank mumbled under his breath. "That guy just kung fu-ed those guys asses without breaking a sweat, then he looked right at me." Feeling damp beads of sweat tickle the back of his neck, Frank fought down the urge to just up and walk away, right then and there. His sister made a decent living reading Tarot cards for people down in Queens, and for kicks, he'd asked her to do a reading for him.

He'd always ribbed his baby sister about getting a real job at a casino, and she teased him in turn about getting a job as a birthday photographer. When she had asked him to draw a card at random, and he'd pulled the Death card, he had shrugged it off as nothing serious. At the time, it hadn't been.

"That's it? Shit... oh no, he looked at you. My god, the horror..." Rick was unsympathetic, but then, he'd never been sympathetic in his life, so why should he start acting like it now. "Just get the shot Frank."

Grumbling under his breath, Frank turned the camera back to the building, the man had turned to look into the building, standing casually as his fingers flexed slowly. Tapping the zoom switch to pull in closer, Frank squinted through the blurry lens as the camera automatically adjusted the focus. Despite having his attention riveted on the lens, somewhere in the back of his mind, he was still thinking about the cards he had drawn. _Next, had been the Devil card_.

The man was nearly six feet tall and built slender, almost too slender to have taken down a pair of armed would-be bank robbers so easily. Long black hair trailed from his head, most of it gathered up into a- Frank adjusted the zoom again- a thick braid, of all things. A bright yellow tunic was belted over jet black pants, odd looking red cords bound the pants to the man's shins in a criss-crossing pattern. He was dressed like something out of Japanese history. _What a dork._

Diving to the side, the man avoided another hail of bullets that spattered the few doors with intact glass, sending a spray of sharp shards out over the concrete ground and stairs outside the door. Stepping forwards the man thrust his foot into one robber's stomach, then quickly jerked the same foot into another's chest, sending him sprawling as he jerked his leg back and slammed his heel down onto the first man's back, dropping him like a sack of hammers.

As Frank watched, entranced, the man jerked his leg up, launching an assault rifle up to chest height before snatching the gun out of the air. As he spun to the side he flung it into another robber's face, knocking him to the ground. Rather than risk shooting each other, the men remaining rushed en-mass to bury the interloper under in a crudely co-ordinated dog-pile.

Their attempts were met with equal force as the man snapped a kick into a face, bending his knee to strike another with his heel, spinning around and crouching to sweep the legs out from two others. Rolling backwards his feet flashed out to catch a pair in the abdomen, kicking up onto his feet again, the man caught a punch aimed for his face and used the hold to yank the attacker towards him.

Staring, entranced, it was all Frank could do to keep the mystery man in the middle of the shot. _The station'll want to have this whole thing replayed in slow motion tonight._ And somewhere, in the back of his brain, something was nagging at him.

Driving his foot into the grappled thug's gut, he swept his leg out and around in a half circle, bringing his heel down on his back, and drove his face into the ground. Slowly, almost wraith-like, he stepped away from the fallen bodies and looked around, scanning the room for any other black clad figures. Satisfied that there were none, the man turned and walked out of the front door.

Naturally, dozens of New York's finest were there to keep him from getting away. Frank knew that this would be the money-shot, and suddenly, the view on the lens jerked to the side and all he could see was the blurry side of the SWAT van, parked out in the street.

"Tell me you're getting this Frank!" Rick, in his excitement, had reached over and grabbed the cameraman's shoulder, and was shaking him wildly.

"Leggo you idiot! I can't aim when you're doing that!" Shrugging Rick's hand off, Frank quickly jerked the camera back around and thumbed the zoom switch, praying he hadn't missed much.

He had missed quite a bit, the man had already cleared the police somehow, and was running towards the crowd barricades. Leaping into the air, he cleared the cars, the crowd, nearly the entire street as he landed on a bus that was driving down the road running past 53rd street.

Frank whistled in awe as he stopped recording and let the camera slip from his shoulder. "That was one hell of a jump." But that was what he had expected from a crime fighter in New York, unrealistic feats of strength and agility.

"Come on, let's hurry up and get back to the station. This is gonna make the front page, the evening edition, six o'clock news... Shit, this'll make the goddamn report of the decade!" Rick was already up on his feet, fishing in his pockets for his smokes and the car keys. Pulling out a plastic lighter, Rick popped what _could_ have been a mint into his mouth.

Frank turned and stared at him a little oddly, still in a bit of a daze from the scene he had just watched being played out infront of him. _The Justice card, that was what that card had been_. His baby sister had predicted the whole thing somehow, impossible as it had seemed at the time. He knew he'd have to consult her again.

Then the things Rick had been saying sank in. "Report of the dec- what the hell are you talking about?" Throwing the camera's sling over his shoulder, he fixed Rick with a pointed glare. He didn't like where this was going, Rick had screwed him out of decent raises before.

Grabbing the lapels of Frank's jacket, Rick pulled the startled cameraman closer, staring up at him with a feverish gaze, a hungry sort of glint in his eyes. His voice was barely a whisper. "Frank, we've got the secret identity of Spiderman on tape..." Grinning in an unpleasant sort of way, Rick stuffed a cigarette into the corner of his mouth, and flicked his lighter.

Frank just knew this wouldn't end well. "Oh boy." Sighing, He looked down to fiddle with his lens a little. That was when he noticed that the cassette tray was open.

The tape was gone.

-

There, a semi rewrite of the prologue, and a bit more information. The reporter's got a name now, and there's an explanation for the cassette in the next chapter. Ugh, if you're a new reader, I'd suggest skipping the next few chapter until I get them rewritten. The good stuff starts at chapter eight or so. I promise.


	2. Chapter One

For those of you who don't know who Ben Riley is, I have one thing to say....  
  
I'm very dissapointed in you.  
  
Mistaken Identity   
  
Chapter One  
  
Somebody ALLWAYS lies.....  
  
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"Who am I? Are you sure you wanna know? If somebody told you I was just your average ordinary guy, not a care in the world..... Somebody lied. Truth is, it wasn't allways like this, there was a time when life was a lot- Aaaaahhh, who am I kidding? I'm a clone, it's allways been complicated."  
  
Alone figure sat on the side, or rather, against the side, of one of New Yorks many tall buildings, shaking his head in semi-disgust at himself. A red mask with white, oversized eyes that rose to sharp points covered the speakers head. An oversized blue hooded sweatshirt with the sleeves torn off and a black spider set at an angle covered a bodysuit colored to match the mask. Of course, a costume required accents, ankle pouches, oversized silver webshooters and a belt to hold the sweatshirt down did the trick nicely.  
  
"Ben, Ben, Ben..... The only person in the world you could fool with that sob story would be Peter. I'm surprised that he hasn't tried that one allready, come to think of it."  
  
Sighing, Ben Riley, the Scarlet Spider, hunched forwards and crossed his arms over his knees, relying on his superhuman strength and the ability to cling to nearly any surface with his hands, and in this particular case, his feet, to keep him in place.  
  
"Two convience store hits, five car jackings, and a bank robbery that I didn't even get to, it sure is a slow day....."  
  
A faint tingling coming from somewhere around the back of his head directed his gaze downwards.  
  
"What-"  
  
The oversized white eyes on Ben's mask widened as he spotted a figure in black and yellow jumping over a pair of, Ben leaned forwards farther.  
  
"Yep, those are robots..... Thats a new one, usualy it's me or Petey doing the fighting.... Unless Black Cat's changed her outfit since last time I saw her."  
  
Extending his legs, the Scarlet Spider launched himself off of the wall, falling down towards the street below. Now that he was closer he could make out something the figure in yellow was holding in one hand.   
  
"Just my luck, he probbaly snagged something from Four Freedoms Plaza, but those don't look like Reed Richards security bots."  
  
A streamer of white fluid shot out from one of Ben's wrists, connecting to a building and solidifying just in time to swing him above an overpass before he dropped onto some poor schmuck's lexus. He was nearly close enough, another second and he could launch himself onto the bus, Ben tilted his body enough to get a good view of the figures riding atop it.  
  
The machines were flat grey and moved with an odd gait as they swung punch after punch at their target, who was-

Spidersense blared an alert.  
  
Ben flexed his arm and flung himself over a cherrypicker that rose up to his level, firing another stream of webbing from his other wristlet, the move had cost him some speed and the bus had pulled ahead.  
  
"It figures, the one day New York traffic is moving along smoothly, the traffic department must be on the take."  
  
The object of the humanoid machine's attention was clearly a fan, if the way he jumped, flipped, rebounded and utterly made fools of the two trying to even lay a metallic finger on him. It didn't look like the, guy? girl? The long braid made it hard to tell gender at even this distance. It didn't look like the person was putting any effort into fighting back, maybe he, she? Couldn't spare the concentration.  
  
Ben launched himself from his webline to the bus, flying low over the three combatinent's heads, the machine-things didn't even notice his presence, but the third figure let out a surprised yelp and dropped into a crouch as Ben skimmed over his head.  
  
"Ack! Holy crap, watch where you're going! Lose the mask and get some glasses buddy!"  
  
Male then, Ben decided as he stepped forwards, he had to figure out what was going on before he could start knocking people, or robots around, a hefty dose of web fluid would solve that though. Ben pointed his hands and triggered the electrodes on his palms, sending twin streams of webbing at the three, pinning both robots feet to the ground, the young man had hopped back just out of the way.  
  
"Hey! Watch where ya shoot those things pal!"  
  
Casting a scathing glare at Ben, he quickly stepped out of the way as another jet of webfluid lanced towards his feet, stepping too close to one of the pinned robots.  
  
"Look ou-"  
  
The warning came too late as a metalic fist swung at the back of the stranger's head, and missed his head by a fraction of an inch as he ducked. Planting a hand, he thrust out his feet and swung them around, clipping the offending 'bot off of it's feet, tearing the webbing off of the bus' roof along with it.  
  
"I hate machines damn it! And if you take another shot at me with that goop, I won't be very fond of you either buddyboy!"  
  
"Hey, I'm not the nutcase ontop of a bus fighting a pair of robots here."  
  
"Riiiiiight, shooting goo at them then."  
  
Ben realized he had a point, and was about to reply with a witty retort when his spider sense buzzed, giving him enough warning to throw himself down on the roof of the bus as a rocket propelled arc of metal screamed overhead and clipped the 'bot still standing off at the waist. Ben's oversized eyes narrowed as the maniac laughter reached his ears.  
  
"Hey Hobby, when did you get back into town? Don't you know that you're supposed to call before visiting? What do they teach you in the afterlife?"  
  
A Basketball sized globe of inpact webbing splattered into the twisted face of the Hobgoblin before he could reply, not that Ben really minded if he missed the reply. He didn't have time to wonder how the Hobgoblin was apparently alive again, though it could just be another pretender, first things first though.  
  
"Yeash, they sure make 'em ugly here don't they?"  
  
Vaulting off of the bus the yellow clad figure landed on the goblin glider just as the Hobgoblin tore the webbing off of his face, orange gloved fingers reaching for his throat.  
  
"Aw crap, you O.D.ed on ugly pills again, didn't you gobby?"  
  
A pair of crimson clad feet slammed into the Hobgoblins face as he looked up, sending the glider and it's riders for a loop that nearly clipped several cars and imbedded itself in the roof of the bus. Still cackling madly, the Hobgoblin detached himself from the crashed glider and rose to his feet, closing in on the limp body in black and yellow slumped on the bus infront of him.  
  
Thwip!  
  
Falling over onto his face, the cackling goblin barely registered the webbing on his feet as he clawed his way closer to the limp body, the impact of a crimson gloved fist, however, caught his attention as it rocked his head back on his neck. That didn't stop the insane cackling, rather, it seemed to increase it, rising several pitches and breaking at several points into a single tone.  
  
Cocking his head to the side, the Scarlet Spider planted his fist into the Hobgoblins face, sending a spray of sparks into the air, tangles of torn wiring festooned his hand as he pulled it free of the now lifeless metallic shell.  
  
"Another robot, I'm beginning to sense a pattern here."  
  
Somewhere along the way the bus had stopped and quickly emptied of is passengers, sirens blared in the distance. Bounding over to the other side of the bus, Ben scooped up the limp body and leaped, swinging away on a webline.  
  
  
  
A weak groan drifted up through the New York air, which, truth be told, had an odor that was unique, sort of a mixture of exaust and weak skunk, with rotten food and old newspaper added in for flavor. Hands pressed into his skull, checking for blood or lumps, finding none, he pushed himself up onto his knees, leaving his face pressed into the cool concrete.  
  
"Ughhh.... Did somebody get the number of the bus that hit me?"  
  
"It was the number five, and to be more accurate, you hit it."  
  
Jerking his head up to look for the source, he let out another groan and rolled over onto his side, the throbbing in his head was a bit less in this position. Weakly cranking an eye open, he fixed his gaze on the red and blue blur sitting at the edge of the rooftop.  
  
"I wouldn't get up if I were you, you left a pretty big dent in that bus with your face, ever think of wearing a hat?"  
  
Groaning a little softer, the youth pushed himself up to a kneeling position and rubbed the side of his head, hissing in pain.  
  
"I'll be fine in a minute, I'm a fast healer. Where are-"  
  
"A few blocks away from a medium sized New York traffic jam, why were those robots after you?"  
  
Lurching up to his feet, the boy- no, man, no. Ben couldn't quite decide how old he looked, it seemed to change from moment to moment. Perched at the edge of the roof on the tips of his toes, he tried to look as casual as he could.  
  
"Robots? I don't...... Oooohhh, those robots, I have no idea."  
  
Shaking his head, Ben leaned forwards and rested his forearms on his thighs, the videotape tucked under his sweatshirt pressed into his back. Something told him that it would probably explain the entire situation, afterall, why else would the target of a pair of 'bots and one mechanical Hobgoblin copy, complete with glider, be riding ontop of a bus?  
  
"Really, all I was doing was going about my usual day, when....... Awwww heeellllll..... Why does this allways happen to me?"  
  
Spidersense tingling, Ben rolled forwards, twisted around, and launched himself into a backflip as a pair of pumpkinbombs slammed into the roof where he had been sitting a moment ago. Stylized eyes widened farther in surprise as a pair of Hobgoblins rose up on gliders, cackling like madmen in stereo.  
  
"If this is your usual day, I don't think we'll be dating anytime soon, go find yourself another webslinger, and you can keep the gift, it doesn't go well with my drapes."  
  
Pulling the tape out from under his sweatshirt, Ben let it drop onto the roof where it would hopefully be out of harms way, then lept forwards into the fray. He had delt with one of these robotic copys allready, he was sure that he could handle a pair of them at once.  
  
"Scarlet spider vs mecha Hobgoblin two, attack of the clowns!"  
  
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I'm sure you all recognize the opening lines to this chapter, if you don't.... Why the hell are you even reading this? This chapter should have been the explanation of the protagonist, but poor Ben Riley gets so little acclaim, what with him being dead and all, thats right, this is an AU spiderman world, or is it in the past? Or am I just messing with you all and this is a dream? You'll never know! MWAHAHAHAHA..... kicks robo-hobgoblin head away. Ahem, anyways...   
  
I'd like to thank both of my reviewers, even though one of them was.... a little... odd..... so-  
  
Thank you SushiiSquirrel , and have no fear, Peter Parker will be in this story, somewhere....  
  
C&C welcome of course, y'know, read and review... send money.. all that good stuff. IF the public demands, I'll go into braid boy's background and how he got here sooner, if not, then it's back to my mo- er, ah, the Scarlet Spiders mockery of movie titles...  
  
; For those of you that need help, it was the old Godzilla movies, and Star Wars episode two.... I'm sure there's no need to do any clone jokes, I have to spread these things out over a few chapters afterall.  
  
; for even more help, that was Ben speaking last in the chapter...... Yeash....  
  
For more information on spiderman and marvel villans, visit www.spiderfan.org and for fics on Ben Riley, visit please you wonderful people who own these sites, don't sue me... I like spidey too n.n;


	3. Chapter Two

Mistaken Identity  
  
Chapter Two  
  
Goblins shoot first, shoot second, and ask themselves questions....  
  
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Mentally sighing, Ben Riley, the Scarlet Spider, afforded himself a small measure of pity as he the Robotic Hobgoblin twins drew nearer, they were very ugly, and since his reflexes has slowed time to a crawl, he had plenty of time to pity himself.  
  
Angling his body, Ben cocked back one of his-  
  
Spidersense.  
  
With a grunt, Ben twisted his body around and cranked his arm back, firing a line of webbing at the building he had just lept off of and yanked as hard as his webline would allow. A flash of yellow, a sudden impact above, a rush of flame, and Ben was falling amidst a rain of shattered metal. Thumping into the side of the 'scraper, ben touched his feet to the concrete and fired down streams of webbing, snagging the falling scrap before it could hit pavement and do any damage.  
  
Carefully depositing the webbed bundle on a ledge, Ben twisted around and climbed up onto the roof again, he had caught something out of the corner of his eye when he had pulled himself out of the line of fire. With a jerk of his arms, Ben flipped up onto the building, noticing with mild surprise that he was still there.  
  
In Ben's mind, however, he saw something slightly different.  
  
  
  
Spidersense.  
  
With a grunt, Ben twisted his body around and cranked his arm back, firing a line of webbing at the building he had just lept off of and yanked as hard as his webline would allow. In the split second before he dropped below the roof's level, there was a flash of bright yellow, wrapped around the braided figure on the rooftop, then he was falling in a rain of flaming metal.  
  
  
  
That was what he had seen, Ben realized, though he hadn't had the time to think it through when he realized that the people on the sidewalk below were in danger. Now.....  
  
"You're a mutant, aren't you?"  
  
Scooping the videocassette off of the rooftop, the stranger gave Ben a puzzled stare as he tucked the tape into his belt.  
  
"A what?"  
  
"A mutant, a human with a genetic code that has evol-"  
  
Ben broke off, why was this guy laughing? He angled his wrists slightly, the oversized webshooters on his wrists detecting the new position and priming his stingers, small metallic darts full of a sedative, for launching, just in case.  
  
"Human, cute notion that.... look, I know this is kind of an odd request, but do you happen to know anybody that could edit this tape for me?"  
  
That took Ben by surprise, where the hell did this guy get his prioritys from? He didn't seem too dangerous, looks could be deceiving though. His gut however....  
  
"Sure, why not? I'll just pop off, check the yellow pages, make a phone call, and have some guy I never met help you out, allright?"  
  
"Allright, is there any specific place I need to be?"  
  
Chalk up immunity to sarcasm to this guy's list of powers, he was one- On the other hand, Ben could use this to his advantage.  
  
"Yeah, see that building over there? I'll have him meet you just outside in about an hour, allright?"  
  
Nodding, braid-boy turned and walked over to the rooftop acess hatch that all New York skyscrapers seemed to have, and climbed down into the building.  
  
"My spidersense is tingling, warning me that this can't be as easy as it seems, it's also warning me that I need to buy toothpaste and OJ before I go home tonight."  
  
Ben lept off of the roof, wondering how he was going to pull this off, it never once crossed his mind that he was cursed, it seemed that the Parker blood in him carried a legacy all of it's own, since his parents- Peter's parents, he ammended, fell victim to it before he was even 'born'.  
  
  
  
The building that Ben had picked hadn't been entirely random, though it probably wasn't the best choice he realized as he sat in casual clothes just outside of a muffin stop, regretting his choice of an orange-bannana muffin.  
  
"Who comes up with these combinations anyways? You'd need to be as twisted as the jackal to even conceive such an evil thing."  
  
He continued to chew away at the mass of spongy poison however, he hadn't eaten all morning, and a growing Scarlet Spider needed his strength.   
  
"So, this is your secret identity..... I'm honestly a bit dissapointed, I had you pegged for having brown hair."  
  
Ben choked on the mouthful of muffin, pounding on his chest to dislodge the thick mass halfway down his throat. His spidersense hadn't even made as much as a whisper of warning, how had he snuck up on him like that? Heaving a last time, Ben spat out the offending lump of allmost-food and glared at it, that little bit of 'food' had nearly done what several dozen villans hadn't been able to do for years, namely, kill a Spiderman.  
  
Grinning like the Cheshire cat, braid boy held out a napkin and wisely kept his mouth shut, it probably save his life as Ben snatched the napkin and wiped his mouth, giving the unexpected arrival two or three different glares. His reaction had given him away and Ben knew it, the only thing he could do now was try to bargin for secrecy.  
  
"Relax, I'm not going to run around blabbing it on the street, hell, I don't even know anyone in the city, who would I tell?"  
  
Ben had a disturbing vision of J. Jonah Jameson conviently running into this fellow as he was proclaiming the identity of Spiderman on a street corner. With a shudder, Ben pushed the image away, he wasn't Spiderman, and this guy didn't even know his name... Come to think of it.  
  
"What should I call you then? The Blackmailer? Deepthroat? No, that one's allready taken, so's the Preacher, before you get any ideas."  
  
"Why don't you tell me your name first blondie, that way I know where to send my demands."  
  
Ben was just opening his mouth when his spidersense blared a warning, jerking himself to the side, he fell over in his chair, careful to make it look like he had lost his balance, and kicking himself mentally for not reacting as quick a minute ago.  
  
Something big, green, and scaly slammed into the table as ben hit the pavement, hissing loudly through it's tooth filled maw. Ben rolled over onto his back, the Lizard? No, Connors wouldn't be stupid enough to-  
  
Crunch!  
  
Teeth and metal crushed under the impact of a fist, folding like cardboard before the mangled body finally reacted to the strike a split-second later and few backwards into the back of a cable van parked infront of the muffin stop.  
  
Ben quickly pushed himself up onto his feet and grabbed braid boy's still extended arm, jerking him nearly off of his feet as Ben led his down the street and around the corner, they had to get out of sight and quick. Whatever this guy was, he was tough enough to rival Ben's strength is a stand up fight, he had seen that first hand and the Lizard-bot was evidence enough to prove it.  
  
Pulling him into an alley, Ben quickly changed into his costume and lept up onto a wall, he needed to get up high, needed to get them away from any bystanders, if he had learned anything, it was that these robots liked to come in groups.  
  
A streak of yellow and black raced alongside Ben as he climbed up the building wall, the absence of a warning from his spidersense told him who it was, and something irked him.  
  
"If you're going to be doing that, would you please cover your face at least? Some of us are trying to keep their regular lives as close to normal as they can."  
  
"You have a regular life? I'm pretty sure that goes against the superhero charter, no normal lives, but you get ten percent off of tights and capes."  
  
Hauling himself up onto the roof, Ben immidately ran for the edge and peered down into the street, a crowd was gathering around the mangled Lizard-bot, and a man was pointing at his van and waving his free arm, must be the owner... Poor guy.  
  
Something flickered at the corner of Ben's eye and his spidersense buzzed softly, close enough to be a danger, but not an immidate one. Good enough.  
  
Thwip!  
  
A streamer of webbing affixed itself to the face of another Lizard-bot and yanked it down onto the roof, Ben wasted no time in pouncing on the machine and planting his fist into it's face, shattering metal and tearing wire.  
  
"They're pretty easy to handle without the gliders, whoever sent them after you didn't expect the Scarlet Spider to be helping out apparently."  
  
"The Scarlet... Spider? Thats your name? Eeeeehhhh, no offense, but it sounds a little, step two-ish to me."  
  
Braid boy had changed his clothes nearly as fast as he had, Ben noted, taking in the black vari- Ben shook his head and looked again, black bodysuit, black mask, yellow sweatshirt with a black spider on it, he had to be seeing things.  
  
"When in rome... You were the one who complained about secret identity's Scarlet, so you deal with it."  
  
Ben winced slightly, he had said it, and on the other hand, another Spiderman would confuse the hell out of ol' J.J.J. no doubt Peter would enjoy that imensely.   
  
"Fine, but at least tell me your name, I can't keep calling you braid boy now can I?"  
  
"Call me.... 'Kuroi Kumo'. "  
  
" 'Kuroi Kumo'? What the heck does that mean?"  
  
Hopping over to the edge of the rooftop, braid boy leaned over and peered down at the crowd surrounding the body of the first Lizard-bot.  
  
"It means Black Spider in japanese."  
  
Ben moved over to crouch next to braid boy, shaking his head as he fired a stream of webbing over his shoulder, affixing the body of the second Lizard-bot to the roof, just in case.  
  
"No way am I calling you that, the costume is enough, you're not taking the name too, you haven't earned it."  
  
"Fine, call me Noir then... Unless you have a problem with that name too?"  
  
"Noir it is, and since you don't have web shooters, you'll have to take the slow way down while I deal with bot number three."  
  
With that, the Scarlet Spider lept off of the roof and dove towards the pavement, a stream of webfluid trailing out behind him as he slowed his fall. Dropping from his webline, he fired off a second stream and slammed feet first into the third Lizard-bot, sending it across the street and into a dumpster.  
  
Today was shaping up to be a busy day afterall.  
  
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For those of you who've had trouble following along, hopefully this chapter will be a bit easier to follow. Noir's backstory will be revealed bit by bit, but those of you who are observant will notice a few off things as the chapters roll out.  
  
Thanks to SushiiSquirrel and Lady Suneidesis for their kind reviews, Noir's name came specificly because of the way you asked nicely me to name him. Candy for you!! Throws handfuls of candy into the air. Ahem...  
  
I plan on updating this once a week, sometimes skipping a week if life is a bit hectic, provided.... more reviews come with the new chapters of course... Hint hint. Grin, wink wink, nudge nudge.  
  
As allways, C&C welcome, read and review, send money, feel free to suggest witty Spider-quips if you'd like, suggestions, gold bars, silver coins.... Gum! send gum! I LOVE gum!  
  
Also, a quick sorry, I ment to get this up on wensday, but stuff happens, but here it is now that I'm back. 


	4. Chapter Three

I don't own this song, but I'll give a cameo appearance to the first person to E-mail me the name of it's singer... Think of it as sort of a contest, but no looking it up, you're on the HONOR system here people.  
  
Side note, different writing style, lemmie know what you think.  
  
Mistaken Identity  
  
Chapter Three  
  
I swear, his middle name must be the definition of 'bad timing'....  
  
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_Moonlight on canvas, midnight and wine, two shadows starting, to softly combine, the picture they're painting, is one of the heart, and to those who have seen it, it's a true work of art...  
_  
Peter Parker smiled as he buried his fingers in Mary-Jane's thick red hair, pausing to admire her green eyes, wondering if all redheads had those eyes, eyes you could sink down into and drown happily.   
  
Heedless of the adoring stare the two were sharing, the radio continued in the background.  
  
_Oh, the red strokes, passions uncaged, thundering moments, of tenderness rage, oh, the red strokes, tempered and strong, burning the night like the dawn....._  
  
Placing her hands over Peter's, Mary-Jane leaned closer to him, full lips parting as their faces drew nearer. "Peter.... I love you so much...."  
  
_Steam on the window, salt in a kiss, two hearts have never, pounded like this, inspired by a vision, that they can't command, erasing the borders, with each brush of a hand..._  
  
If Peter Parker's heart had stopped beating that moment, his only complaint would have been that he had gone four seconds too soon. Tilting his head slightly, to avoid the moment-shattering 'nose bump' Peter closed his eyes.  
  
_Oh, the red strokes, passions uncaged, thundering moments, of tenderness rage, oh, the red strokes, tempered and strong, burning the night like-  
_  
Knock Knock Knock.  
  
Groaning at the interuption, Peter's eyes snapped open, Mary-Jane's eyes, he noted, were nearly enough to send his spider sense blaring if the irritation she felt had been directed at him.  
  
"Ignore it Peter." Mary-Jane moved her hands to his shoulders, firmly holding him down on the couch as she resumed her advance.  
  
_-be blue and the jealousies green, but when love picks its shade, it demands to b-_  
  
Knock Knock Knock...... KnockKnockKnockKnockKnock.  
  
Growling under his breath, Peter reluctantly pulled away from Mary-Jane's warm embrace and stood up, heading for the door at a fast walk before more knocking came.   
  
"If that's anyone but Aunt May I'll...Now slow down there Peter, take a moment, you might hurt somebody if you don't relax. " The train of thought helped Peter calm down somewhat as he smoothed out his shirt and took a deep breath before opening the door.  
  
"-elling you, he's he- Pete! Hey, boy, you look pissed, is MJ making you sleep on the couch again?"  
  
Ben Riley grinned widely at Peter, taking several seconds to realize that the current expression on his 'brothers' face was directed at him. Ben quickly stepped back and held up his hands defensively. "Woah now, hold on Pete, I know that look on your face, I'm one of the good guys remember?"  
  
Groping off to the side of the appartment's door, Ben continued to hold up a hand incase Peter actully did take a swing at him, not that he thought Peter would ac- "Uh-oh..." Ben had finally noticed the smudge of lipstick on Peter's bottom lip and winced, wondering if he got enough of a head start, Peter would be unable to catch him, after all, they were the same person in body, right?  
  
"Look Pete, before you finish deciding how to kill me, I had no choice really, you're the only guy I could come to about thi- abou- rrrrr, hold still!" Ben's arm jerked twice before he yanked someone over next to him. "This!"  
  
Peter stared for a moment, unsure of exactly what he was supposed to say. "Uh, Ben, I-"  
  
The young man standing with Ben's arm firmly wrapped around his shoulders gave Peter a dazzling smile and held out a hand, he was dressed in a yellow t-shirt and blue jeans, some of Ben's clothes. "Howdy.... Uncle Pete."  
  
  
  
Inwardly fuming, Ben gave Mary-Jane a polite smile and took the cup of coffee with a nod, leaning back against the kitchen counter.   
  
"Ben, he can't be your son, you know you're not-"  
  
Ben bit back an angry retort and took a gulp of his coffee, the burning sensation on his tongue helped too, Peter knew better than to... No, Peter wasn't the one who needed to watch what he thought, Ben did, he knew Peter better than that, he wouldn't say something to deliberately hurt him like that.  
  
The hurt look on Peter's face confirmed Ben's thought's as he spoke again. "Ben, he can't be your son, _neither_ of us is old enough to have a son." At Mary-Jane's elbow, Peter quickly corrected himself. "Old enough to have a son that old I mean." Peter rubbed his side and tried to ignore the triumphant look on Mary-Jane's face.  
  
"I know Pete, I know..... I think the Jackal left something stewing....." He left the rest unsaid, in a way, the Jackal was Ben's 'father' having created him from Peter Parker's DNA, a painful reminder of who he was.  
  
Something Brushed against Ben's shoulder, looking up, his eyes met Peters, there was no mistaking the compassion in his eyes. Ben nodded, lightly slapping a hand on Peter's shoulder, clone or not, they decided who they were, not others.  
  
"So the question now is what to do with him." Ben winced inwardly at Peter's words, it hurt to lie to him, but he had to let Mary-Jane believe that Noir was another Peter Parker clone, the truth was-  
  
"So, you're Ben's son? What's your name?"   
  
Ben and Peter jerked around, staring at Mary-Jane as she held out a cup of coffee to Noir with a smile, sitting down on the couch with the young man. Peter took a half step forwards and Ben had to pull him back with _both_ hands, adhering his feet to the kitchen linoleum.  
  
Taking several gulps form the steaming mug, Noir's eyes fixed on both Parkers in the kitchen, staring at the two of them frozen under his gaze. With a smile, he turned to Mary-Jane and nodded. "Yeah, pop's my pop alright."   
  
Ignoring the sudden struggling between the Parkers again, even though it was hard to tell wich one was trying the most to get to him now, he set his mug down on the coffee table and crossed one leg over the other. Folding his hands over his knee, Noir smiled at Mary-Jane again. "I don't know my name, or even how old I am, I've been to a few doctors but they can't tell me much I'm afraid."  
  
Giving the boy a sympathetic look, Mary-Jane get him a small hug, completely ignorant of the fury one Peter Parker was in, if he pushed any harder, he'd tear the linoleum Ben was sticking to and drag half the kitchen into the living room.  
  
"Peter, come in here and say hello to your nephew, and bring your brother with you."  
  
Ben and Peter froze, realizing that they were still struggling against each other, and that Mary-Jane was frowning at both of them, hands on her hips as she set into full maternal mode. Grinning falsely, the two stepped away from each other and walked into the living room, Ben sitting down next to Noir, Peter sitting protectively between Mary-Jane and Noir.  
  
Peter glared over Noir's head at Ben, who could only smile sheepishly, this was going to be a long night Ben realized.  
  
  
  
"You're not a clone?" Peter raised his voice to be heard above the noisy bar music, Ben had dragged the two of them out to this 'quaint' little country themed bar, leaving Mary-Jane to her much needed beauty rest.  
  
Noir shrugged, took a long pull of his rootbeer and set the bottle down, since he looked like a minor for the most part, soda was the limit of his drinking choices, luckily Ben had fast-talked the bouncer to letting him in as long as he didn't touch any booze.  
  
"Well, yes and no, my life is a lot more complicated than I could explain in a single night, and there's no way in hell I'm telling it while I'm sober. In a nutshell, no, I'm not your clone, either of yours, and I'm definately not Ben's son... Hell, I'm not even blonde."  
  
Ben and Peter enjoyed a brief moment of amusement together, Ben's choice of a hair color had become something of a private joke they shared, more on Peter's part than Ben's, though Ben allways brought up Peter's sweater and glasses if teased enough.  
  
"Then why did Ben say you needed to hide out with me and MJ? If you're not a clone, you shouldn't have to worry about people hunting y- What?"  
  
Ben and Noir both reacted, Ben wincing, and Noir comicly waving his hands to silence Peter before he finished speaking. That was when the back of the bar blew inwards, sending people and debris flying across the room.  
  
"Oh _wonderful_, you just had to say that didn't you?" Ben and Peter were allready dragging Noir by an arm each out of the bar, their spidersense had warned them in time to duck most of the flying chunks of wall, table, floor and get out of there before the screaming started.  
  
  
  
Atop a pizzaria across the street half a minute later, the Scarlet Spider and the Spectacular Spiderman crouched, two heros poised to spring into action.  
  
"Hey, how come I don't get any of those fancy string shooting doodads?"  
  
Ben groaned and pressed his face into his gloved hands as Peter turned to stare at Noir, this night was not going to end well, Ben was willing to bet good money, hell, old J.J.J. would bet his mustache on odds like this if he were there.  
  
"What? What did I say?"  
  
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Here's another chapter for you wonderful folks, I think I've got down Peter and Ben's relationship pretty well, for those of you who're wondering, yes, Ben and Peter really did think of one another as brothers. Hopefully, you've all enjoyed a nice WAFFy moment reading the Ben/Peter bit up there.  
  
Warm And Fuzzy Feeling for those of you who had no idea what waffy ment.  
  
Alternate chapter title 'You would have been my daddy, but the Jackal dropped the test tube.' Funny as it may be, it really doesn't fit, so I dropped it in favor of the current one.  
  
No fighting in this chapter, I wanted to dedicate my time to the Parker brothers relationship... boy, if they ever made a board game, lawyers would be all over their asses... heh. Noir's history will come as the chapters do, but I may add a flashback or two, I'm not sure if it's a good idea to reveal too much now though....  
  
now to the reviews.  
  
SushiiSquirrel - I change my scenes specificly to catch people off guard, where's the fun in letting you know it's coming? I'll be doing my best to get down the spiders characters, Peter's only miffed in this chapter because of his liplock time being interuppted.  
  
Lady Suneidesis - Wow, you're right, proofreading does help, why did nobody tell me about this before? Surprising as it may be, I actully intended to leave people wondering for a few seconds as to whom did what, though if nobody likes it, I'll have to stop it....   
  
About my small use of japanese, I've been into it for seven years now, so it's not all of a sudden. It also pisses me off when I see somebody type 'stupid baka!' in a chat room.  
  
Neko Yasha formally Hikarichan - Any relation to the artist formally known as prince? Joking aside, I'm glad you like Noir. If I couldn't properly use sarcasm, I wouldn't feel that I was doing a proper Spidey fic. My other fic is on hold for awhile sadly, but I will eventully get back into it.  
  
As allways C&C welcome, suggestions, spidey quips, anything like that is welcome, and hopefully, one of you will actully WANT to get a cameo spot in here, please include a brief description of what you'd like to look like in with your e-mail, as well as what you'd like to be doing, and I'll see if I can write it in. 


	5. Chapter Four

A brief personal note, I'll be going on vacation for the entire month of august to Missouri, so I may not be able to post any new chapters untill september, it all depends on if I can get a net connection and a computer to use while I'm down there. Though, feel free to flood my inbox with fanmail while I'm gone, hotmail makes it easy to be e-loved you see.  
  
Mistaken Identity  
  
Chapter Four  
  
Oh come on, nobody would get that reference!  
  
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Flexing his legs, the Scarlet Spider launched himself off of the pizzaria and fell towards the street, closely followed by the amazing Spiderman. Below them, at street level, people were streaming out of the bar.  
  
"So much for a quiet night out with the boys, eh?" Ben fired a streamer of webbing at the building behind him, using it to slow his fall as he glanced back at Peter, who was close behind.  
  
"I'm sure junior is crying a river right now... Speaking of him, where is he anyways?" Peter twisted around as he dropped to the street alongside Ben, glancing back up at the building they had lept from. There, Noir, clad in his black and yellow variation of Ben's costume, was falling towards them.  
  
Spidersense.  
  
The twin costume clad webslingers flung themselves away from the perceved danger, a writhing lance of horizontal lightning shot out of the bar, and headed towards-  
  
"NO!!"   
  
Ben tumbled onto his feet, streching out a hand, fingers curling to trigger his web shooters- Too late, as the cracking, blue-white band of light slammed into Noir's chest, lifting him off of the ground and propelling him through the window of the pizzaria.  
  
Peter spun around, spraying a fine stream of web fluid from both hands over the double doors of the bar, layering it thick enough to buy Ben some time, time he knew they had little of as the webbing began to smoke and curl away from the doorway. "Ben, hurry up!"  
  
  
  
Ben flung his body through the smashed in window of the pizzaria, landing in a crouch amidst shattered glass, smashed tables and chairs. Noir was in here somewhere.  
  
"Ben, hurry up!"  
  
Hopping forwards, Ben landed on what was left of the counter that held the cash register, now smashed to pieces, and in a heap under a set of metal racks...  
  
Ben dropped to the floor and lifted the racks off of Noir's limp form, tossing the twisted metal to the side, he carefully slung him over his shoulder, trying to ignore the damp feeling that was seeping into the shoulder of his costume.  
  
Following the path Noir had made through the counter, Ben hurried to the front of the building, dropping into a low crouch as the night lit up like Hiroshima.   
  
"Die Spiderman!!!"  
  
  
  
The air took on a hint of ozone, Peter noticed, as he backflipped away from a blast of lightning, landing in a crouch, he flung himself to the side to avoid another blast, planted his feet on a lamp post and propelled himself back the way he had came, avoiding a third burst of electricity.  
  
"Die Spiderman!!!"  
  
"Now there's an original line, do all of you villans go to the same script writers or is it a package deal?" Peter twisted to avoid another bolt of flung lightning and caught a flash of colors out of the corner of his eye. Red and blue, black and yellow, good.... Ben had found Noir then, now he could concentrate on the task at hand.  
  
"Hey Electro, have you ever thought of renting yourself out as a bug zapper?" A much more intense blast of energy blew chunks of concrete out of the street as Peter lept into the air. Good, he was getting angry, it would make it that much easier to beat him then.   
  
"Hold still and I'll show you just how effective I am, you little insect!" Enraged, Electro flung several blasts of lightning at Spiderman in rapid succession. Clad in a green bodysuit, with yellow boots and gloves, as well as a hideous mask decked in little bolts of lightning pointing in several directions, Electro was living proof that you didn't need a good sense of fashion to be a supervillan.  
  
"That's arachnid, didn't you learn anything in highschool besides sewing? There's no way you could have had that made anywhere in New York..... Well, maybe Queens..." Flipping over several times to avoid becoming a flash fried spider, Peter settled atop a streetlight and waited, he needed to time this exactly right....  
  
"Shut up and DIE!" Furious at the hero's taunts and jibes, Electro flung a two handed bolt of energy towards the wall crawler, who leaped over the river of electricty as it curved to meet the metal pole sticking out of the ground, and straight at the tosser, cocking his arm back.  
  
"Special delivery, one knuckle sandwich, untoasted!" Spiderman slammed his fist into Electro's face, holding back enough not to kill him, somewhat against his better judgement.   
  
  
  
Ben hopped through the shattered window, carrying Noir over his shoulder as Electro flew down the street, propelled by Spiderman's fist. "Ooooh, I'll bet that hurt... Hit him again for me."   
  
"I think I hit that train hard enough for half the city.... Speaking of which, could you remove that city from my head? It's heavy...." Ben quickly set Noir down, leaning his back against the building they had just vacated. A rusty patch stained the shoulder of Noir's sweatshirt, spreading slowly, the thick yellow cloth was shredded on one side, as well as the black spandex and flesh beneith.  
  
"Just hold still, I need to patch up your sho-"  
  
Spidersense.  
  
Ben grabbed Noir's good shoulder and one of his hips, rolling them both out of the way of a stray arc of lightning that tore a quarter of the building away. Brick, metal and glass flew as the building began to slowly tip over.  
  
Leaving Noir where he lay, the Scarlet Spider launched himself skyward, alighting on the building next to the pizzaria, sending thick streams of webbing from the webshooters wrapped around his wrists. Across from him, Spiderman was busy anchoring the pizzaria to the other building beside it, both hero's spraying as much webbing as fast as they could, and praying it would hold.  
  
A tickle of apprehension crawled through Ben's gut. "Who's handling Electro?"  
  
Peter stared at him for a moment. "...........Uh-oh......."  
  
  
  
Noir slowly limped towards the green and yellow clad figure who was hovering silently three feet above the street, waiting for him, hands aglow with blue-white ribbons of electricty.  
  
"The power company must be slipping if you're their new mascot. Cough. Whatever happened to Mr. Lightbulb? Is he on vacation?"  
  
"Keep laughing, Spider-brat, Soon you'll be a charred corpse at the feet of Electro!" Hovering a little higher above the street, Electro raised his hands above his head and crakned up the voltage, preparing to turn Noir into a soot stain.  
  
Wincing at the red lances of agony rippling through his shoulder, Noir raised his fist up alongside his eye, palm turned out, elbow bent and extending back. Ignoring the protests his muscles raised, he cocked his other fist at his hip, lifting up onto the toes of one foot, his other leg bent at the knee and raised to waist height.  
  
Cackling at the utter hilarity of the would-be hero's idiocy, Electro paused for a moment. "Sorry Daniel-san, but Mr. Miyagi isn't going to save you this time!" Thrusting his arms forward, twin bolts of lightning a foot in diameter each raced towards Noir.  
  
Electricty crackled, sizzled, and flowed across every inch of Noir's body, nearly a million volts of electro-static energy screamed through his flesh, and into the concrete beneith his feet. Gasping, his knee's buckled and left him slumped over and breathless in the street, smiling weakly between breaths at the stunned look on Electro's face.  
  
"Shocking, isn't it?" Gritting his teeth, Noir forced himself onto his feet, battling against the vertigo and nausea, cupping his hands as if holding a softball, streching his arms towards Electro. "My turn..... Shi..... Shi....."  
  
  
  
Both spiders turned and bounded to the edge of the rooftop at the sound of an enormous discharge of energy, saw Noir kneeling in the street in the middle of a ten foot circle of blackened pavement. Both watched at Noir stood and held his arms out, neither could make out what he was saying, but neither missed what happened next.  
  
Yellow flame blossomed around Noir's body, bursting outwards into a firey nimbus of color that lit up the street, a sphere of energy formed at his fingertips, motes of light danced over his hands as the ball grew larger, then shot into Electro's chest, sending him flying backwards a dozen yards before he hit earth, skidding another dozen before rolling to a stop.   
  
Noir took two shaky steps forwards before collapsing, the yellow light dimmed, then died alltogether, winking out like a snuffed candle.  
  
Ben immidately flung himself off of the rooftop, Peter a half second behind him. Within minutes, city officials arrived to find the unconscious form of Electro, safely webbed to the pavement.  
  
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Am I the first writer to use a Katate kid reference in a Spiderman fanfic? Do I get some sorta award for this? The chapter title is self explanitory....... At least, it SHOULD be....  
  
Lady Suneidesis - Yup, Peter and MJ are married, and also... She's pregnant! YES! Thats right, the secret of her jabbing Peter with her elbow in the kitchen is finally reveiled! And um, I've been a fan of anime and japanese for seven years, I used to know a bit, but I've all but forgotten it by now.   
  
SushiiSquirrel - Hopefully this chapter is better than the last in terms of clarity. It's bad to let your brain rot, then you couldn't read more of my fanfic, right?   
  
"It looks a..... Like a big cat of somekind."  
  
"What like a puma?"  
  
"Yeah man, there you go."  
  
Long live RvB indeed.   
  
As allways C&C welcome, suggestions, spidey quips, anything like that is welcome, nay, BEGGED for! 


	6. Chapter Five

Well, I'm back from vacation, alive and well, and dead tired, screw roadtrips... I hate 'em... Nah, kidding, just the long ones.  
  
This chapter is not going to make any sense at all, got a problem with that? Figures... It's not going to make any sense for another chapter or two, but let's face it, if you saw it coming, would it be a surprise?  
  
Mistaken Identity  
  
Chapter Five  
  
Coma dreams, random thoughts, or profound subconscious insight?

(CHAPTER BEGINS HERE SINCE MY LITTLE SPACING TRICK DOESN'T WORK ANYMORE.)

"You have got to be kidding me."  
  
Noir stood in a vast chamber, easily hundereds of feet across, at the broken lip of the walkway that had taken him to the middle of the great room. Rough hewn stone abruptly ended in mid air, leaving a ten foot gap of empty space to traverse.  
  
"............... This has got to be some sort of funky nightmare, a bad pizza dream or something."  
  
Crouching at the edge of the long drop, he stared down into the depths, he could see nothing but darkness and felt a sudden chill. Somehow, he knew, if he dropped down there, he was never coming back up.  
  
"Not a proble- eeeehhhhhhhh...........Crap."  
  
The gap in the walkway was widening, it had allready streched out to twenty feet. What had the engraving in the chamber's door said? 'A hesitant man is not a knight.' or 'A knight is not a hesitant man.' Something like that.  
  
"Figures, they'd make this impossible for anyone but a bold fool.... Guess it keeps them from accidently getting whatever the hell it was the geezer sent me for."  
  
The gap had widened to nearly thirty feet as Noir stepped back from the edge, pulling his black mask back down over his face as he hunched over. For a moment, he stared at the stones as they pulled themselves away from him, farther and farther.  
  
"Ah, screw it."  
  
Taking a step, he launched himself off the brink and flew over the void, the air rushing past him, making his hooded sweatshirt flutter and snap against his dark costume. Closer, he was falling now, his upward movement nil, now negative, the darkness was rushing up towards him.....  
  
Contact.  
  
He jack-knifed his body, throwing himself into a roll as he felt the stone fall away from under his feet, his shoulders. He was running now, barely keeping ahead of the collapsing stones. This was insane, how was anybody expected to get past all of this junk?  
  
"Wait...."  
  
Stopping, he turned around and yanked his mask off, staring with a blank expression on his face.  
  
"You have GOT to be kidding me."  
  
The walkway was completely restored, the ten foot gap he had originaly crossed was gone, as if it had all been an illusion.....Was that all it was, or was it more than that?  
  
Turning, he walked towards a pile of stone and a gilded slab laying atop that glittered in the flickering torchlight. Hopping up onto the edge of the pile, Noir examined the slab, cocking his head to the side.  
  
"Huh, looks like it was moved before.... Big scrape marks, lots of them too, must've taken a few attempts to straighten it.... Yeah, like it wasn't obvious enough that I had to push it?"  
  
Pressing his gloved hands against the golden slab, he nudged it a little.  
  
"Oh god, this thing must weigh ten tons..... It's gotta be solid gold..."  
  
Frowning, he examined the slab carefully, taking his time to estimate the demensions as close as he could.  
  
It was roughly twelve feet long, by twelve feet wide, by six feet thick. Multiply length, by width, by height... Eight hundered and sixty four feet. Multiply feet by twelve to get inches...gee, much easier than the last one... ten thousand, three hundered sixty eight inches.  
  
A six by eight by six inch bar of gold weighed around two hundered pounds. Divide ten thou-something-eight by the bars demensions, six times eight times six, two hundered and eighty eight....Ummm.... Thirty six, multiply that by two hundered pounds....  
  
That friggin' slab weighed seven thousand, two hundered pounds, over seven goddamn tons.  
  
"Do I really WANT to see what they needed to seal under seven plus tons of gold, behind a magic pit trap, in a castle guarded by scary shit like walking suits of armor, nuns, magicians, on the magic isle of Avalon, the island that can only be found by those it WANTS to find it?"  
  
He stood there for a moment, thinking it over, then, with a disgusted sigh, he pulled his mask back on. His costume was torn in several places, there was a large rent in one shoulder at least two inches across, and the hood had been entirely ripped off of his sweatshirt. He was tired, sore, blood stained and filthy.  
  
"After getting my way THROUGH all that shit? You damn well bet I'm not going back empty handed."  
  
Crouching down, he pressed his hands against the slab, muscles in his arms stood out as he pressed his toes against the edge of the stone base, bending his frame to give him more leverage.  
  
Peter Parker and Ben Riley, the Spectacular Spiderman and the Scarlet Spider, respectively, could lift approximately ten tons, more if they were under extreme emotional stress, though not much more. Noir had been hurt rather badly in his fight with Electro before. How long ago was that fight, he mused as his shoulder screamed in pain, protesting the stress he was putting on it.  
  
It didn't make any sense, he had been fighting Electro, remembered cold cocking him, then nothing, just blackness. How had he made his way through all the obstacles he semi-remembered fighting past? His body trembled from the strain, between stone and gold, a rock and a hard place, haze and clarity.  
  
Seven plus tons, it may as well have been a hundered or a thousand, it wasn't budging an inch.  
  
Growling deeply, Noir hunched over farther, putting his back into the push, he could feel the barely knitted flesh of his shoulder parting. It was never going to move. He was never going to get out of here. He was never going to get home. Never... Never....  
  
Anger. Blood red flashes of rage, slashed with black despair, tinted yellow with sorrow.  
  
"Huuuurrrghhhh!"  
  
A deep grating started, of heavy metal grinding against hard stone, filling the chamber, making the air seem to vibrate around him, then exploded into a dull boom as the titanic weight slammed into the floor on the other side of the platform.  
  
Noir dropped all of four inches to the stone, gasping raggedly though his mask as he rested on his hands and his knees, cool tingling swept through his forehead as it pressed against the platform's rough stone.  
  
After he had caught his breath, or close enough to it, he crawled on his hands and knees towards the four by six hole revealed by the removal of the gold slab.  
  
"Let's see what the hell is going to make this all worthwhile...."  
  
A man, close to six feet tall, dark brown wavy hair cut short topped his head, matched his short beard. He wore a rich red tunic belted over brown breeches, golden bluckles adorned the tooled leather belts about his waist. Nestled above his forehead, buried in the thick hair, lay a band of softly gleaming silver, set with angular cut stones of red and blue.  
  
A pair of rings were on his hands, one set with a blood red stone, the other a brilliant sapphire, and on his tunic, outlined by a border of white... A red dragon. The man stirred, opened his eyes, focusing on the masked head above him.  
  
"Arthur Pendragon, King of Camelot....."  
  
Arthur slowly sat up, staring at the person who had woken him from his age long sleep, who had somehow come to know his name, a puzzled expression on his face as he attempted to puzzle out this new, and hidden face.  
  
"...........You've gotta be shitting me."

(CHAPTER ENDS HERE SINCE MY LITTLE SPACING TRICK DOESN'T WORK ANYMORE.)

Feel free to post or e-mail your theorys for this chapter, I give you all, a one in twenty chance of getting this one right, but go for it anyways! Winner gets... hmm.... Oh! The choice between Noir's real name coming up in the next chapter, or an explination of what he used against Electro. Yeah, not great prizes, I know, got a better idea? Post it with your guess and if it's not too much, like Noir in the buff, for example, we'll go with that instead, ok? Remember, no nudity, is good nudity! shower in a swim suit people!  
  
Lady Suneidesis - Spideys little witty comments are what set him (and Ben!) apart from all those other heros!  
  
SushiiSquirrel - I watched all kinds of anime, my favorites include: Ranma one half, Inu yasha, Ruroni Kenshin, Digimon ( n.n; ah heh... ) Sailor moon ( don't ask!) Tenchi Muyo OAV, Shaman King, the old Sonic the Hedgehog cartoons (the one's that had princess sally and rest of the freedom fighters in them.) Sonic X, Star Ocean EX (though I've only seen five or six eps.) Yu Gi Oh, Dragon ball, Dragon ball Z, Dragon ball GT, Bubblegum crisis ( only saw one ep, but I loved it.) Teknoman (also known as Tekkaman Blade.) Samurai Pizza cats ( oh yeah! XD) Astro boy (the original stuff, I thin it was from the seventies or something, at least twenty years old stuff.) Megaman (again, old school, twelve years or more ago.) Card captors ( n.n; I like Kero ok?) Keropi and friends (also old school.) Dirty pair (two eps rented a long time ago.. eh, not bad.) Escaflowne, Flint the time dective, Gundam Wing (woot!) Galaxy express 999, Macross plus ( oh how I loved that!) Medabots, Monster rancher, Ninja scroll (not for underage viewers, like I was at the time n.n; ) Patlabor (another golden one, I saw both movies, and rented them again recently on DVD. ) Saber rider and the star sheriffs (also way old school, god I'm a geezer....) Speed racer (both the old and new series, both had odd theme songs... "go speed racer, go speed racer, go speed racer go!' XD ) Zoids, Burn up W (though it made NO sense to me.) Cowboy beebop (just the movie, but gotta see more!) Vampire hunter D (just the movie.) Knights of the zodiac, Pokemon, Voltron (more old school! I'm so retro... I think?) Transformers ( all of them! even the movie!)  
  
Gasp, pant, wheeze..... Thats all I can think of right now.... I know I missed a few though.... Please, no more questions like this ever again, it'll kill me, I know it.....  
  
It's allways good to be Bi or multi-lingual!  
  
Noir... well, Noir didn't even become Noir untill this story rolled around, he has a much longer and detailed past then any body will really ever know.... As for how powerful he is, you'll have to read to find out, won't you? This chapter does give you a vague idea, add it to the previous chapters to get a general idea for now. As for perfect... Are you kidding? The guy INTENTIONALLY took a hit from a LIGHTNING BOLT! Perfect people don't do that! Perfect people move! Ahem..... right, not perfect, sorry....  
  
Neko-Yasha formally Hikarichan - You only got around to reading this NOW? I feel slighted... slightly n.n;  
  
As allways C&C welcome, suggestions, spidey quips, anything like that is welcome.

"This is blue command, come in Blood Gultch outpost Alpha." 

"Hello command, we need help!"

"Roger that Blood Gultch, what is your request?"

"I don't know what the technical millitary term is for it, but uh, we're pretty f%cked up down here, we need men!"

"............Dude, how long have you guys been down there?"


	7. Chapter Six

Hoo boy..... Back again, AGAIN, this time, I had a death in the family... six years, and gone, such a ripe old age, I'll never forget you... computer monitor #3 (sniffle.) You're in a better place now... On the floor in the downstairs sitting room n.n; Anyways, I'm back now, so without much ado... or is it, adieu? ; Hmmm, either's good....

Perhaps this chapter will make more sense, and at the same time, less sense... Ooooh, contradicting hints... Dun dun DUNNN.... I couldn't resist. XD

Mistaken Identity

Chapter Six

Not here, but still right next to you.

(BEGINING OF THE CHAPTER, BOY DO I MISS MY OLD SPACING TRICK.)

"He's not breathing... He's not breathing!" Ben Riley, the Scarlet Spider, cradled Noir's limp body in his arms as he came to a stop atop one of New Yorks many sky scrapers, mildly winded from the frantic pace he had kept all the way from the near ruin of the pizzaria, all thanks to Electro.

"Did you try CPR?" The spectacular Spiderman landed in a crouch next to Ben, peeling back Noir's mask with one hand, the other hand tugged his glove down on the first hand to bare his wrist, which he then held over Noir's exposed mouth. "You're ri- Wait!" Leaning over, Peter pressed his ear up against Noir's chest. "He's breathing, just very slowly.... That big zap he took must've done something to him, probably effecting the motor control section of his brain."

Feeling a weight fall away from his chest, Ben stared at the body in his arms, a little alarmed at the surge of relief he felt. Had he become this attached to the idea of having- No, now wasn't the time for that, later, when they got him some help, maybe, but not now. "He needs a doctor."

"The NYU is close by, we could get him there in a few minutes..." Peter cocked his head, running over his mental map of New York. 170 William street wasn't very far, but- "We can't just go waltzing in with him like he is, and he's too torn up to be changing his clothes for him." Pulling his glove snug again, Peter sat back on his heels and thought for a moment, then stood up and walked to the edge of the roof. "Come on."

Standing up slowly to avoid jostling Noir, Ben followed Peter to the edge of the roof. "Whats going on in that buggy brain of yours Pete?" Shifting his hold on Noir a little, he pulled the dark mask back down over the lower half of his face.

"It's time a paitent made a housecall to a doctor for a change." Leaping off of the roof, Spiderman let himself freefall for a few seconds before firing a webline, swooping low over Broadway, looking for a bus that was heading in the right direction.

(BACKWARDS, FORWARDS, WHO KNOWS WHAT THE TIME DIFFERENCE IS?)

"So, Merlin, you're lookin' pretty young for an old guy.... Infact, I'd say you're even younger than the last time I spoke to you." Noir's mask was pulled up to bare the lower half of his face, allowing him to pop a chunk of hard bread into his mouth.

The seemingly ageless, and indeed, younger looking sorcerer smiled indulgently, turing away from the window he had been staring out of to look at the uncooth youth. "Indeed, and you look less the worse for wear than the last time I set my eyes upon you."

"Eh, you've got your secrets, I've got mine." Having said that, Noir slipped a half wedge of cheese between two torn chunks of bread, squeezed it flat, and crammed it into his mouth. He was starving half to death and ate like it too.

From his seat at the long, bare wooden table, Arthur shook his head at the pair in a gesture of mock exasperation, hiding the smile he wore. "If you two are finished teasing one another, I'd like to know why we are all here, and pray tell, why are you looking younger than I remember seeing you old friend? Are you keeping secrets again?"

"Come come Arthur, I'm a wizard, thats my business." Smiling sagely at the pair, he stepped out of the shadows that gathered by the window, seeming to huddle themselves away from the light of Arthur. Clad in a deep green tunic belted over brown pants, the cuffs of which were tucked into shin high leather boots. Over his moss green coat, so long that the hem nearly swept the ground behind him, and covered in odd patterns and shapes, was a mantle of hawk feathers. Added to his shoulder length brown and blonde hair, a contrast in itself, it made Merlin look even more apart from a normal man than the aura of mystery that surrounded him like a fog.

Snorting, Noir took a long gulp of water from a carved wooden mug and wiped his mouth with the back of his wrist. "Only two good things come of magic, healing, and mending clothes.... And since you haven't done either, you've failed to make a good impression on me."

Frowning, Arthur set his hands down on the table before him with an audible thump, raising himself to his feet to glare at the insolent boy, true, he had freed him from his ageless sleep, but that was no way to speak to his teacher, his friend. "Now see-"

At a sharp glance from Merlin, Arthur cut off his words like a tap and sat back down, the only time his old mentor had given him such a look, was when it had been more important to listen, rather than to speak.

"I'm afraid you're quite right, not only have I taken you from your rightful place, but I've also set tasks before you, heedless of your choice or condition. Were I in a position to do so, I would have found another, or waited but a little longer, but my, ahem, patron, had assured me that you were able bodied enough for the task." Smiling that knowing, yet not telling, smile of his, he glanced at Arthur, then off to the side, to a corner that seemed deeper in shadow than the window, yet less dark then the night outside.

There, hidden deep in plain sight, was a girl, clad in a white dress that flowed down to her knees, with raven hair that contrasted with her pale skin. Three marks adorned her face, one on her forehead in the shape of an inverted teardrop, the other two angled along her cheekbones, all colored a deep blue. Smiling at Arthur, she pressed a finger to her lips, gesturing at Noir who was pulling his mask down and streching the head out a little.

The top and back of his mask suddenly bulged oddly and seemed to writhe as if a dozen snakes crawled beneith the tight fabric, dozens of silver threads poked out from the neck of his costume. "Hey Skuld, been slinking around back there long?"

Blanching, the girl stared at the spandex clad boy for a moment, then glared at his back. She stamped her foot, the aura of darkness washing away like chalk on a sidewalk in the rain. "Ooooohhh, you-" Walking out of the corner to the middle of the room, the girl glared at the back of his head and hoped it would pop.

The odd distortions under Noir's mask vanished as he settled it into a more comfortable position. "And hello to you too, I'm glad to see that you remember me so well." His voice was thick with satisfaction as he crossed his legs, settling more comfortably on the stone floor. "Been working on the K-man's bike again?"

Blinking, she couldn't help but scoot around a little to look at his face, or rather, the mask that hid his face away. There was something different about him since the last time they had spoken face to face. "How did-"

"Easy, I smelled the motor oil on your hands."

(FORWARDS, AHEAD, ADVANCING. BOY, SPACING SECTIONS SUCKS NOW.)

"Brain activity is... Imbalanced to say the least. Blood flow seems to be higher than normal everywhere except for portions of the body with obvious lacerations, those portions of the body have slowed circulation, as if the body was trying to limit the loss of blood, interesting." A feminine voice dictated to a digital recorder as she examined the body on one of the medical rooms beds.

Bandages wrapped most of Noir's torso, and he had been stripped from the waist to his neck, though the doctor had been kind enough to leave his gloves on, a sort of peace offering to the two wall crawlers that clung to the ceiling at the far side of the room, speaking in hushed tones.

"You brought us all the way out here for a Doctor? We could've just taken him to an emergancy room and-"

"Explained to them why he was wearing spandex with a spider on the front? Relax Scarlet, the Doc knows her stuff. Besides, I left Doctor Strange's address in my other costume." Rolling his eyes under his mask at Ben, Peter crawled over the ceiling to the woman and stood up, bringing his face down to her eye level. "Doctor Grey, is he going-"

"He's stable Spiderman, and I've told you before, just call me Jean. What I can tell you is that his bodily injurys aren't a direct effect of the coma, whatever damage this... Electro? Did to him, his body seems to have ran the electricty through like a lightning rod, I see little indication that he took the full force of a lightning bolt to the chest as you said he did." Frowning, Jean Grey, member of the X-men, leaned over to make sure the IV in Noir's arm hadn't popped itself out again, she had had to wrap tape around his entire wrist several times to keep it there.

"So you're saying that some outside force did this to him? Something besides Electro?" Ben had crawled over to crouch next to Peter's feet, looking up, or rather down, at Jean. "A mutant maybe? Or some sort of drug that got into his bloodstream when he was cut up?"

"I'm running his bloodwork through the computer right now, but I don't think it's that, for him to come into contact with a psychotropic agent merely by chance is a million to one." Pulling a chair over to the bedside, she moved the IV to her other side and reached for Noir's head.

"Hey hey hey! No trying to sneak a peek lady, don't you know it's rude to do that on the first date?" Ben dangled upside down from the ceiling on a strand of webfluid to glare at Jean face to mask.

"Scarlet, it's allright, Jean wouldn't do that, to any of us, we can trust her." Dropping down to the floor on the other side of the bed, Spiderman leaned over to look at Noir's mask, nodding to give his assent.

"I'm going to try contacting him telepathicly with my mind, touching my hands to his head just makes it easier for me to do it." Lightly touching her fingertips to Noir's temples, Jean closed her eyes and gently felt up against his mind with her own, trying to get a feel for the person behind the dark mask. Face contorting with sudden effort, Jean recoiled away from Noir, her eyes snapping open.

Spiderman leaned over farther, reaching across the bed to put a hand on her shoulder to steady her. "Jean what was it? What did you see?"

The scarlet Spider found himself dangling lower, eager to hear what the psychic had to say.

(FORWARDS AGAIN, NOW, WITH MOOD BREAKING TECHNOLOGY!)

"Whatever he is Professor, he's not human, at least, his mind isn't." Jean looked away from the bald man sitting behind his desk to stare out the window for a moment, absently watching some of the younger students chase after a frisbe. "His bloodwork came out with, well, see for yourself."

Professor Charles Xavier picked up the sheets of paper sitting on his desk, scanning quickly over the mass of text. Dressed in a dark suit, he looked every inch the headmaster of a private school in salem center, New York, but he was also one of the worlds most powerful telepaths, and creator of the X-men.

"The human genome, that is, an unaltered or mutated human genome is 50 junk, repeated sequences that don't code for protein, some of Noir's genomes follow this pattern."

The professor looked up from the handful of paper he was reading. "Noir?"

"The young man who's DNA profile you're holding right now. Most of the genome is randomly strewn with patches of 'good' genes made of the G and C gene sequences, while the 'bad' genes, are formed with the A and T sequences. From comparison of the typical, unaltered human genome, his DNA seems to be full of vast amounts of G and C genes."

"Are you saying he's geneticly more advanced than your average mutant?" Spiderman leaned out to look over Jeans shoulder at her face. The Scarlet Spider was perched on the other side of the Doctor, clinging to the wall as well.

"In a general comparison? I'd say he it to mutants, what mutants are to humans, another leap in the genetic structure of human kind.. But this is much too soon for another leap forward in human evolution, you've said it yourself before professor, roughly every hundered thousand years..."

"And yet, we seem to have living proof that that theory is flawed laying in our medical room.... Spiderman, I know you cannot reveal your identity, but if you could tell us anything about where he came from..." The Professor set the sheaf of papers down on his desk and reached down behind it, pulling back on the control stick of his wheelchair to guide it around the desk, and closer to the webbed wall crawler.

"You'd have to ask Scarlet, he's the one who bumped into him first." Spiderman turned his head to look at Ben, curious as to how this all started in the first place.

Holding up his hands defensively, Ben leaned back against the wall. "Hey, I ran into the guy fighting a pair of robots ontop of a bus.... Then a robot copy of the Hobgoblin showed up, then two more." Frowning behind his mask, Ben thought hard for a moment. "He blew them up with some sort of energy blast form his hands. After that, a trio of Lizard-bots showed up, you know how it goes from there."

Nodding, Peter picked up the train of thought. "Electro, then this... Wait, everytime it looks like nothings going wrong-"

At that moment, the entire mansion seemed to shudder, books flew off of the bookshelves before the shelves themselves followed. Ben and Peter quickly dropped from the walls and moved to the center of the room. "Earthquake? No, it felt more like it came from outside..."

A hidden alarm bleated softly from one side of the room, Jean quickly strode over and touched a switch on the Professors desk, making a hidden pannel in one of the dark stained wooden walls slide back to reveal a hidden monitor. On the screen, a twelve foot man was smashing his way through the stone wall that surrounded the mansions grounds. "Juggernaut."

Ben stared at the display for a moment before turning to Peter. "I'm guessing thats bad?"

Nodding, Peter moved towards the window. "Oh yeah."

(END! THE END! THE END OF THIS CHAPTER! THE END! BAD JOKE! FIVE POINTS IF YOU GET IT!)

A few more points to ponder, boy, I hope Marty Sam doesn't wear spandex... We'll just have to see how this turns out, won't we? Does a wide array of skills count as too powerful?

Hopefully, this chapter is long enough to satisfy the voratious reader inside all of you, if not... WRITE YOUR OWN DAMN FIC! My hands are tired and the letters 'A' and 'E' are starting to smudge off of my keyboard! Ack! The 'N's starting to go too!

Partial points to Neko-Yasha formally Hikarichan for guessing about half of Noir's problem. Also... (Shivers.) Ninja scroll, not for timid viewers... never watching that again....

SushiiSquirrel - A bit more of the Avalon group in this chapter, and a puzzler too, are there two Noir's? Takahashi yaay! n.n

Jewel59 - Uuuhhh, what can I say? I'd have more of a reply if you did more than a half line review? Though Frank and his yet-unnamed reporter partner may show up again later in the fic... Hmmm, interesting idea.

Red vs Blue season three, and Halo 2, both are probably going to claw me away from writing... Maybe, we'll see, depends on how fast I get ahold of 'em.

C&C welcome, all that good stuff, feel free to send me money if you like, no personal cheques though....


	8. Chapter Seven

Hello all you wonderful readers out there, I'm back again! Thats right, here to confuse and entertain you all! n.n Not much to add, works just been a bit iffy is all, and my computer, oy.. So many ad-ware, and spy-ware, and.. Ugh, why all the 'wares?

Mistaken Identity

Chapter Seven

Someday, somehow, gonna make it allright, but not right now. I know you're wondering when......

(BEGINING OF THE CHAPTER. THIS IS GETTING ANOYING. HMMM.)

Launching himself off of the mansion roof, Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spiderman, followed by Ben Riley, the Scarlet Spider, half turned to look through a window as he fell past it.

"Nothing." Sighing, Spiderman fired a strand of webbing at one of the many trees dotting the grounds, yanking himself towards the towering crimson clad figure that was lumbering towards the school behind Peter.

"Huh?" The Scarlet Spider sailed past on his own strand of webbing, a bit impaitent to deal with this situation before it got anymore out of hand than it allready was.

"Nobody's coming out, the rest of the X-men must be having a day off or something." Peter launched himself into the air, dropped a dozen feet, and fired another webline off, propelling himself higher into the air.

"I'm guessing that's a bad thing, isn't it?" Ben really had no idea what was going on, but from the way the Prof, the Doc, and Pete were acting, this guy was going to be serious trouble.

"Considering this guy could turn us into paste in a single smack? Yeah, I'd say this is a bad thing, a _very_ bad thing." Launching himself off of his webline, Spiderman tucked himself up into a ball and flipped forwards several times as he fell, building up momentum.

"Well, well, well... If it ain't a couple of spiders, come to get squashed like flies." Chuckling thunderously, Cain Marko, the Juggernaut, turned to look at the small figure hurtling itself at him.

Uncoiling his body just a few feet away from the Juggernaut, Spiderman streched his body out, slamming into the crimson giant with all the force his lithe body could muster.

It turned out, that was quite a bit, considering he could lift ten tons over his head. The Juggernaut reeled back from the force of a pair of spandex covered feet slamming into his helmet, actully making him stumble back a few feet.

"Spider missile number two!" The Scarlet Spider slammed into the Juggernaut's massive chest a second later, with enough force to crumple a city bus like wet cardboard, knocking the titanic figure onto his back, making the ground shake with the force of the Juggernaut's landing.

"Is that it? This is all you were worried about?" The Scarlet Spider dusted himself off as he walked over to Spiderman's side, who was still in a semi-crouch, watching the massive prone figure.

"Uhhhh, Scarlet, you might-"

Rumbling, _loud_ rumbling, and the sound of gravel being chewed up and spat back out. It was the Juggernaut, laughing, as he sat up. "Is that all you got? It'll take more than that to stop the Juggernaut you little pipsqueeks."

"Uh-oh."

(HEEHEE, I CAN WRITE ANYTHING I WANT HERE, ANYTHING AT ALL!)

"So, you're the one behind Merlin's, erm, anti-aging or whatever?" Noir rubbed his cheek through the black spandex mask covering his head.

"Hmph!" Crossing her arms over her chest, Skuld turned her back on Noir, closing her eyes and tilting her head back to indicate her displeasure with him, as if it weren't obvious enough.

"Errr, what? Was it something I said? Aside from the usual stupid things I normally say, I mean?" Scratching his head, Noir stared at the teenaged goddess for a moment, then turned to look at Arthur and Merlin. Wisely, the two had slunk off to the far side of the room, to avoid getting involved in what looked like a lovers spat.

"You know exactly what you did! And what you didn't do!" Stamping her foot, she turned back to glare at Noir, her cheeks flushed.

"Er....." He tried mentally going over every stupid thing he had done recently, a long list of things that grew more pathetic as he went along it, he wisely gave up and waited. Sooner or later she'd crack and tell him exactly what he did wrong.

"You were going to let yourself die! Just to stop that jerk!" She looked rather hurt at this revalation, hurt and very angry, faint whisps of devine power trailed from her slender frame, dancing around her head an shoulders like displeased spirits rising from the grave.

"Oh, that..... That was nothing, I handled that ass with my usual dramatic flair, skill...." Waving a hand, he dismissed the whole subject, turning to glare at the two who seemed to be conveniently blocking the only door out of the room, and doing a poor job of pretending to not be interested in the conversation.

"Nothing? Nothing?! You knew exactly what was going to happen to you, again! You were going to break your promise too!" Skuld's eyes began to tear up, the anger being overshadowed by something else.

"Whaaaa? Oh come on, you know very well I never promised anything. I go out of my way to avoid making promises." He was looking out the window now, odd, the moon seemed to be fuller now than it had been a few hours ago.

"You jerk! You, machoistic, self centered, self serving..."

"You forgot self centered, selfish, stubborn, ummm.....Any other S-words you'd like to add in there?" Folding his hands behind his head, he dropped onto his back, laying there on the cold stone that the entire castle seemed to be carved out of.

"You big, stupid, jerk! Why did you have to show up in the first place?! Why did you have to come and bother us?! Why couldn't you stay?!" Tears were trickling down her cheeks now, glaring down at his spandex covered face, she wiped them away with the back of her hand.

"S' not ment to be, thats why.... You of any people should know that better than I do y'know. Lose the denial Skuld, you'll be a lot happier when you learn to face facts." Closing his eyes he let out a sigh, shifting his shoulders as he tried to find a comfortable position on the cold stone floor.

"I don't want to! You can change things, I've seen you do it before! Why won't you change this? You change everything else around you!" She crouched down at his side and grabbed one of his arms, shaking him a little.

"Hey, it's different when I change other stuff, I don't exactly do it to make my life the way I want it to be y'know, it just doesn't work that way."

"But-"

"But nothing, it'd all just come out wrong if I changed it that way, you wanna see how wrong it could be?" He sat up and stared at her face, wiping a tear away from her cheek with his thumb.

"............................." Sniffling, she looked down at the floor, keeping her fingers wrapped around his bicep.

"Argh, you just won't listen, will you? If I find out you try to go ahead and change this anyways, I'll......"

"You can't stop me if I send you back to your body." Skuld let go of his arm and stood up, stepping away from him.

"Wh- oh no, no you don't Skuld, I'm not go-"

Sliding her sleeve up to reveal an oversized wristwatch, Skuld snapped a switch into a position marked on the dial by a red double-helix, cutting off Noir in mid sentace as his body dropped bonelessly to the floor. "I'll be nearly finished long before you're even strong enough to deal with my messenger...." Staring at his body for awhile, she didn't notice both Arthur and Merlin staring silently at her from the far end of the room.

(DUN DUN DUNNNNN... SORRY, I COULDN'T RESIST. UH, HMMM, BACK AT THE X-MANSION?)

"This would be a lot easier if we had some help." Backflipping to avoid a fist the size of the front end of a Buick, the Scarlet Spider fired his webshooters, coating the Juggernaut's arm from fingertips to elbow in grey goo stronger than steel. It snapped like thread when the hulking figure yanked his arm back to make another swing at Ben.

The Juggernaut suddenly pitched forwards, as if something had struck him in the back with the force of two or three speeding city busses. Ben glanced behind him, Spiderman was still recovering from being tossed through the air like a rag doll, in the midst of snapping a third strand of webbing in an attempt to slow his flight. If it wasn't Peter, then who-

"Sorry ahm late sugar, there was a sale at the mall." A woman clad in a green and yellow body suit grabbed the Juggernaut by the arm, spun him around several times and flung him away. Landing next to the Scarlet Spider, she finished tugging her bomber jacket on, running one hand through her curly brown hair, which, oddly enough, had a wide white streak running through it. "Who're you?"

"I was about to ask you the same question, but since you asked so nicely, I'll go first. I'm-"

Fwa-Shing!

"Save the introductions bub, we've got more important things on the to-do list than to be social. We've got a giant to cut down to size." Running past the pair in a yellow spandex costume brandishing six claws, three sprouting from the back of each hand, Wolverine charged into the fray, launching himself at the Juggernaut, only to be slapped back the way he came, landing in a heap on the ground at the feet of a man clad in blue spandex.

"Spiderman? What are you doing here?" The red tinted visor over the blue clad man's eyes seemed to glow for a moment. His hair was cropped short and his six foot frame was well muscled despite how slender he looked.

"Use your eye Cyclops, the Spider's over there." Crawling back onto his feet, Wolverine charged back into battle once more, this time, taking care not to run right up to the Juggernaut's face.

Shaking his head, Ben Riley stared at the small group of X-men. "Where did you all pop out of, the woodwork?" Turing, Ben fired a pair of weblines at the Juggernaut again, catching him just above the elbow. "Imade them extra thick this time so it-"

SNAP!

"OK, maybe I should just save my webbing for something else..." Feeling a little pathetic, Ben circled around to the Juggernauts back, crouching down to tense his body up like a spring. Full powered body blows seemed to stun the crimson clad giant somewhat, so that's what he'd do.

Glancing to the side, he noticed the X-men gather up for a group assault, a pretty good idea too, considering Spiderman was bounding over to lend them a hand. "Come to think of it, didn't Spidey mention something about working with them before?' Ben mulled that one over as he flung himself towards the Juggernaut.

Spidersense.

Grunting, Ben twisted his body around as fast as his geneticly enhanced muscles would allow, the Juggernauts gauntleted fist missing him by a hairs breadth, passing underneith his body-

And cracking the casing of one of his oversized webshooters like an eggshell. The miniature electric turbine inside the device went haywire, spilling all of his remaining webbing into the turbine gone overdrive, sadly, washing over the X-men like a small tsunami of glue, sticking everyone but Spiderman to the ground.

Peter flipped sideways through the air, adding a bit of spin to get a good look at what had happened. Wolverine was begining to cut his way free, but the sheer amount of webbing would slow him down. Ditto for Cyclops, it was doubtful he'd risk harming his team with a careless blind shot. Even Rogue would be slowed down by the webbing, it litterally had the tensile strength of steel.

"Oops..... That wasn't my fault!" Ben began slapping his hand down over the damaged webshooter, trying to shut the still running turbine down before it overheated and exploded. It was doubtful it would take his hand off with it if it went up in lights, but it'd sure hurt like hell.

"Great, anybody got a bugle handy? I'd like to call in the calvary now." Spiderman began circling around the Juggernaut to the Scarlet Spider's side. The crimson giant didn't seem to consider him a threat at all. Kind of insulting, really.

"Why does everybody allways start the party without me?" A black and yellow clad figure lept from the top of a tree, landing infront of the Juggernaut in a crouch. His costume was still in it's original, ragged state, the slash over his shoulder a rusty red color from his crash through half a pizzaria and the blood that had stained it.

"Noir? But I thought you were in a coma?" Half glancing at Noir, Spiderman held up a hand, aiming to fire a thick stream of webbing at one of the Juggernaut's legs to trip him up, leave him vulnerable enough for Ben to take him down from behind.

PFFTT!

"Uh-oh... Out of webbing..... Why now?" Peter slid his glove up his wrist to eject the empty cartridge from his webshooter, his belt should still have a few more cartridges to go, he hadn't had time to reload thanks to Electro showing up last night, and...

"Lookout!"

Raising an arm over his head, the Juggernaut brought it down on Noir with enough force to level a skyscraper, a pillar of dust and dozens of square yards of sod shot into the air, and the entire mansion shook from the force of the titanic blow.

Everything was utterly still, and eerily still as the haze of dust slowly settled to the ground. Peter and Ben were rooted where they stood, torn between morbid fascination, and the desperate need to see if Noir had moved in time.

A voice broke the silence, startling both spandex clad, arachnid superheros.

"I was..." Noir stood in a waist deep crater, his body wrapped in a sheath of shimmering blue light, holding the Juggernaut's fist inches away from his head with both of his hands. "I got better."

(CHAPTER END! SEMI-CLIFFHANGER! OH, THE FLAMES WILL COME FOR THE ONE I'M SURE!)

Well, that's probably a heap more of unanswered questions for sure, but I felt like doing an X-men cameo since I've been playing the new game. No new reviews for once... A bit of a surprise actully, but I'm sure you're all busy with life... And thats a fine excuse... For now... (Shakes his fist.)

Anyways....Um, I don't really know what else to toss in here.... Hmm... ten or so more days untill Halo 2.... (Shivers.) Mmmm yeah, eases the pain.... No wait! It doesn't! The waiting just makes it worse! Damn you waiting! Damn you, I say!

Anywho, that's it for now I guess, C&C, opinions, questions, suggestions... Erm, all that kinda stuff, is all welcome.


	9. Chapter Eight

Another chapter, another round of 'Writer messes with readers heads!' yes, the gameshow where I amuse myself at your expense, and boy, do I amuse myself greatly. But for starters, I'd like to thank everyone for sticking with me so far, and for any new readers, for taking up an interest in this fic. I probably should have said that sooner. Yeah, ok, rare moment of mushy stuff over, I'll leave that junk to Peter and MJ.....

Also, I'd like to tell you how awkward it feels to write for the Juggernaut.... I have to refer to him by his damn title all the time, it's like eating popcorn with a retainer, you're picking crap out of the spaces every few seconds.

Ah, and a correction for chapter five, I had the math wrong, the slab across the bridge only weighed about three and a half tons, not seven... Huh, I'm surprised nobody corrected me on that one.

Ugh, so much dialogue..... Head hurts..... Well, don't say I didn't warn you. This is probably the most confusing part of the whole fic........ So far.... Mwahahahaha.... Ahem, sorry.

Mistaken Identity

Chapter Eight

Take your cat and leave my sweater, 'cause we have nothin' left to weather.....

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Frowning through his mask, Noir looked up at the massive figure standing before him. "If you're planning on finishing up this little spat of yours, I'd like to know why you're here." Releasing the titanic fist that had nearly caved his head in, Noir hopped out of the small impact crater, resolving to not get in the way of such a big guy the next time he decided to be a hero.

"You're an impressive little runt, just like she said." Rubbing his fist a bit, the Juggernaut reached down to his side and ripped off a little package that had been held to his armor with duct tape. Dropping the tiny, compaired to him anyways, package on the ground, he turned and began walking off.

"Hey waitasec! That's it? No battle to the death? No cruddy mocking dialogue? What're you anyways? SV-UPS? Supervillan delivery service? Your package there with mass destruction or it's free?" Noir stood where he was, holding his arms at an odd angle as he watched the hulking figure stride off.

Grunting worklessly, the Juggernaut continued to walk away, then paused, as if he had remembered something. "There was a message to go with that, something like 'I've got more time than you.' " With that, he walked across the estate grounds, into the street, and was gone.

"What was that all about?" Reloading his webshooter, the Spectacular Spiderman snugged his glove up over his wrist and walked to Noir's side, surprised at how anti-climatic the finish was despite his relief that it was over. The Scarlet Spider was still slapping away at his broken webshooter, feeling more like the nutty professor than a wall crawling superhero.

Shrugging, Noir turned around in time to see the X-men free themselves from the cocoon of webbing the Scarlet Spider had covered them in during his little webshooter related mishap. "Yeah, y'see? This is why I work alone, crap like this.... You two can explain what happened, I'm really not in the mood for it." Letting out an exasperated sigh, Noir wandered away from the group of costumed would-be heroes. "Oh, and whatever you do, don't touch that package."

"Well, ahv seen rats with a friendlier disposition than him." Planting her gloved fists on her hips, Rogue shook her head at the back of the retreating Noir and looked at Spiderman. "Spider sugah, it's nice to see you again, but next time, leave your big red date at home."

Holding up his hands defensively, Spiderman took a step back. "Us? Date? Nuh-uh sister, this webslinger is allready taken. Besides, I drive a VW, no way he'd fit in there without losing a few tons."

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Sighing, Noir reached up to peel his mask off, flinched, winced, and let out a pained hiss, letting his arms drop limply to his sides. "Shit..... I really shouldn't have done something that stupid...." Leaning back against one of the many trees that formed a small forest on the estate grounds, Noir slid down against the trunk to a sitting position, staring vacantly through the dense foliage. ".....I must be weaker than I thought, I figured I would've broken my arms in three or four places, instead of six or seven....."

Staring down at his arms for a few mintues, he tried willing himself to heal, to somehow mentally knit his bones and torn muscles. ".......Yeah, that's what I thought..... Looks like I'll be stuck in a pair of casts for awhile...... Unless...."

"Unless what bub?"

Noir jerked his head up, glaring at the yellow and blue clad figure that was leaning against a tree a few feet away. "Unless a certain eavesdropper knows of any mystical healers around here."

Chuckling darkly, Wolverine pulled out a cigar and lit it, taking several puffs before shaking the match out. "Sorry, but you'll have to settle for the cast like most people do."

With a snort Noir focused his attention upwards at the small cluster of leaves, simply out of spite. "Some help you are...... Keeping tabs on me for any particular reason, or is it just my dashing good looks?"

"You're wearing a mask, bright light."

"Oooh, right. I kinda forgot about that, I usually do my heroing in my regular clothes." Lifting a hand to scratch his head, Noir let out another hiss, mentally kicking himself at his stupidity.

Chuckling at the blunder, Wolverine took a deep puff of his cigar and blew a few smoke rings. "So what brought you into the game kid... Fame? Fortune? Thrills?"

"Blah, are you kidding? Who the hell makes money offa this crap? Show me a rich hero, and I'll show you somebody with rich parents who kicked the bucket."

Puffing on his cigar, Woulverine continued to watch Noir, waiting for an answer to his question instead of flippant remarks.

Heaving a sigh, Noir dipped his head and rubbed his cheek on his shoulder several times. "Aaahhh, that's much better..... Ok, I'll go out on a limb here and assume that you can keep a secret. I'm secretly a long lost son, descended of a race of monsterously powerful aliens from a far off planet in space, who were removed from earth in another demension from this one, because they were too powerful to keep around."

Taking a deep lungfull of smoke, Wolverine blew out a particularly large ring of smoke, then raised one of his hands. A trio of claws lept out of the back of his hand and glinted dangerously in what light filtered down through the trees surrounding them.

"Ah, would you belive that I took a wrong turn in a broom closet and just found myself in a parking lot?"

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

"-And after that, we came here. Jean bandaged him up, we had a little chat, then your big red friend showed up and you guys showed up shortly after."

"That's quite a story Spiderman, but it sounds like your 'friend' is a thief. Why else would he be on the run?" Good old Cyclops, straight as an arrow, more law abiding than a dozen troups of boyscouts. The uniform was up there pretty high on the 'Dork-O-Meter' too.

"Well, there's got to be a re-"

"Save the chit-chat for later Spider, looks like your boy had a relapse." Wolverine stepped out of the treeline, Noir's slender frame slung over his shoulder.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Darkness. Endless flashes of light and color swarming across a deep field of stars. Dancing motes of light against a rich velvet fog. Every pinprick of light was a memory, it seemed. Some brushed close enough to touch, to feel.

To remember.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>

"Left foot back, twist right leg towards the left side of the body, flex the knees, and- OW!"

"Aaahhh, such are the risks of trying something you've only seen once, young one."

"Gee, thanks for the warning, oh honored elder.... Think you could snap my hip back into place?"

>>>>>>>>>>>>>

"Yipe! What the hell was that?!"

"A shruiken."

"Oh great, ninjas.... I _hate_ ninjas!"

"Complain in the afterlife."

>>>>>>>>>>>>>

_"Take turns talkin' to him? Why am I goin' first then?"_

_"Because you brought him back."_

_"Fine....... Thought she'd never leave... You don't mind if I smoke, do you? ....... Didn't think so........ Don't like hospitals much, do you? Yeah, I had you pegged as the impaitent type..... Bet there's a story behind that, wanna talk about it?"_

>>>>>>>>>>>>>

"I have your parents, if you wa- What's so funny?"

"Oh man... I'm sorry, no, this is really interesting. What're you gonna do to my parents? I mean, aside from digging them up?"

>>>>>>>>>>>>>

"Hey, what's that smell? ..........CRISTMAS COOKIES!"

"Gah, what? Hey! Wait up allready!"

>>>>>>>>>>>>>

_"Time's up sugah, my turn."_

_".......Fine."_

_"Same old, same old..... Where to start? Mah name's........ Ah first.......... An' that's when ah jo-"_

>>>>>>>>>>>>>

"OW! What the hell did you do that for?!"

"I thought you would dodge it."

"Dodge a BOTTLE being thrown at the back of my HEAD?!"

"You dodged everything when I attacked you."

"Because I saw it coming! Do I _look_ like a ninja to you?!"

>>>>>>>>>>>>>

"Don't you ever get tired?"

"Sure, I get tired of living every day."

"Oh funny, I'm being serious here."

"So am I."

>>>>>>>>>>>>>

_"-ing...... You're probably a thief, but the...........-urn down someone in tr-"_

>>>>>>>>>>>>>

"You really should wake up."

"I am awake, aren't I?"

"No, you're dreaming."

>>>>>>>>>>>>>

"Hey! Come over here for a sec!"

"Sure, I- Wait, that last one...."

>>>>>>>>>>>>>

The endless field of stars spun and wheeled about as he changed his focus, something was out of place....There.... A speck of blue amidst the black and white.

"So, you noticed."

"Kind of hard, blue tends to stand out against black and white."

"Point taken..... Well?"

"Well what?"

"You're not going to ask?"

"About the blue thing, or the other thing?"

"It should be obvious."

"You're giving me too much credit."

>>>>>>>>>>>>>

"_-ell Gambit tink you're luckier than most, ma-"_

>>>>>>>>>>>>>

"Oh, _that_."

"Yeah, that."

"I'd say my hearing's starting to fuzz in and out."

"And, what else?"

"I'm probably in another coma....But, it sounds like Skuld isn't involved in this one."

"Bingo, natural causes."

"Lucky me, passing out because of blunt trauma."

>>>>>>>>>>>>>

_" 'Two roads diverged in a wood, and I...I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.' Robert Frost. I think that would apply to you, my comatose friend, though I do not know why."_

>>>>>>>>>>>>>

"Well?"

"Sounds like a bedside vigil to me."

"Exactly, so hurry up and wake up before you suffer brain damage."

"Hah! Good one. Though...."

>>>>>>>>>>>>>

_"19 And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou? _

_20 And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ. _

_21 And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No. _

_22 Then said they unto him, Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself? _

_23 He said, I am-"_

>>>>>>>>>>>>>

"Though what?"

"Though it sounds like....."

>>>>>>>>>>>>>

_"-ake up! You've got-"_

>>>>>>>>>>>>>

"-ta wake up! Please-"

His eyes snapped open and immidately slid shut again as a hiss of pain escaped his lips, the light was much too bright, he needed a few seconds. "I'm up, I'm up....Where's the fire?" Slowly sitting up, he looked around the room. Hospital bed, expensive, beeping machines, wires hooked to his chest, bandages all over his body. Hospital room, figures, but who was talking? Slowly rotating his head, he squinted a little more, his vision was still blurry, no surprise, but he could still make out the figure sitting next to him.

She was vaguely asian, short black hair spiked up into a punky sort of look, pink sunglasses were pushed up onto her forehead, but the thing that captured his attention the most was-

"Why are you wearing a bright yellow plastic trenchcoat?"

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Well! Another chapter done, FINALLY! I spent around fifty times as much, er, time on this chapter than I did the others. Everytime I sat down to write, I was interupted, and that just pisses me off!

SushiiSquirrel - n.n Ah yes, Halo 2, worth every single minute of waiting. ; We'll not discuss my seeming obsession with the word 'spandex'. Noir, what can I say about him? Yeah, he's a jerk, but he may have a reason for it, then again, maybe it's a stupid reason. You'll have to wait and see. Insert evil sounding laugh here.

Flamestrike - I'm glad that you love Noir, SOMEpeople, seem to think he's a jerk. ; ahem.

Next chapter should have a bit more depth on what Skuld is up to, if I get a chance to get another chapter in before cristmas, if I don't...

Merry cristmas to all my readers, and have a happy new year! n.n Warm and fuzzys all around, help yourselves to the cookies, all reviewers get TWO... Hint hint.


	10. Chapter Nine

Merry cristmas dear readers! I hope this chapter finds you all well!

Yeah, ok, holliday greeting over, important word type begin. As a sort of present to all of you for stiking with me so far, I had to squeeze this chapter in before I head out for new years.

This chapter has been reposted, some minor corrections were made, since I caught some typos in here.

Mistaken Identity

Chapter Nine

Look around you, look beyond, you could make an unbreakable bond...

----------------------------------------------------------------------

The world spun and twisted about him, rippling and blurring together before resolving itself, enwrapping the air about him in a scream of a turbine and a roar of flame.

That was when he noticed the Goblin glider screaching towards him.

"Aw fu-" The tri-pronged metal blades sunk into his shoulder, sending him hurtling back eight feet into a solid stone wall. He could feel the tremble in the blades through his shoulder as they buckled slightly before digging into the wall, leaving him pinned between it and the glider.

"Well, well, well, isn't this cozy? A spider between a glider and a hard place." The mocking voice came from inside a stylized helmet that looked like a twisted face wrought in metal, yellow, dome-like eyes buldged slightly from the face. The speakers body was sheathed in crome-like green metal that had sort of a luster to it, the mouth, he finally noticed, was full of fangs and twisted into a leering grin.

"Now let's just see what's behind this mask, shall we?" Green metalic gloved hands began to peel back the edges of his mask at his throat. "What's that? Are you trying to say something Spider-brat?" The leering face leaned closer. "Well, speak up boy! What is it?"

The screech of warping metal gave the Green Goblin a split second to look down, just in time to notice the fist piercing through the wing of the Goblin glider, slamming into his jaw, sending him tumbling from his perch atop the glider.

"I said, 'You're too close bitch'." Tearing his arm free of the glider's wing, he gave it a shove, the shriek to deforming metal overlapped his cry of pain. With a dull thud, the glider hit the ground, belying all the metal it was made out of.

Reaching up, he probed at his right shoulder with his fingertips, hissing in pain as he felt torn flesh and muscle half contract and slide around under his fingertips. Nearly all of the muscle in his shoulder was severed, making his right arm completely useless for the fight. "Great, not like I need it."

Pitching the front of the glider up with his toes, he glared at the Green Goblin for a moment before slamming his foot into the glider, sending it spinning nose over tail towards the Goblin, who had finally collected himself enough to notice the glider a split second before it crashed into his chest.

Shoving the glider off of his chest with one hand, the Green Goblin plucked a pumpkin bomb from the satchel at his hip with the other. "You'll pay for that one Spider-brat!"

Crimson enwrapped gloves closed over both the Goblin's hand and the orange sphere, squeezing for a moment. Panic rushed over the Green Goblin like a wave as he felt the metallic ball deform. "NO! It'll-"

A wave of pressure and flame flung the Goblin backwards, away from the explosion as it fully formed, sending him bouncing and skidding over the old stone floor untill he fetched up against a pillar in a heap. Shakily raising himself to his feet, he stare with blurry eyes at the cloud of smoke and fading flame.

A red and blue shape hurtled towards him from the depths of the grey-black cloud, trailing smoke. In a fit of panic, the Goblin tore another pumpkin bomb from his satchel, only dimly aware of what was happening as engloved fingers closed over his hand and the bomb again.

Dragging the bomb, along with the Goblin's hand towards his face, he leaned very close, silvery-white, reflective eyes boring into the Goblin.

In those eyes, he saw death. "Y-you can't be human."

The Green Goblin did not survive the next explosion, which took not only his life, but his hand and half of his face too.

Groaning, the scarlet and azure clad figure dragged himself to his feet. His costume was torn and burned in several places, and blood was still seeping out of his shoulder, making a soft, pattering noise as it dripped to the ground.

Peeling his mask from his face with one hand, he wiped sweat grime from his forehead with the back of his forearm. Absently, he licked at his bloody fingertips, frowning thoughtfully at the coppery tasted overlayed with a rubbery flavor from the shreds of his tattered costume mixed with the saline fluid.

"This isn't my blood....."

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Growling under her breath, a slim figure stomped down on the hardwood floor with her bare foot, nothing was going as planned. Turning from her computer screen, she glared at the many robots slaving away at several fifty foot metallic skeletons, layering on metal and wire.

Her cheeks were flushed, her long dark hair seemed to sway in time with her mood, and she was not pleased at all. She was Skuld, youngest of the norn sisters, and the goddess of the future, and she was very pissed off.

"Damn him anyway! He won't stop me from-" A electronic bleating from her computer cut her off mid-sentance. Sitting back down infront of the screen, she clicked several icons and was rewarded with the image of a red and black covered figure, dripping blood from his right arm.

"Perfect....." Snapping her fingers, she summoned a robotic drone to her side, it scurryed to her side quickly, abandoning it's task it's mistress had set for this new one, whatever it would be.

"Send three of........No, send fifteen of the green flyers to kill this one." She tapped the figure on her screen with a finger. The drone scurryed away, hurrying about it's new task.

Skuld was smiling around a spoonful of rocky road two minutes later as the flight of robotic Green Goblins swarmed the unaware figure, easily catching him by surprise.

Rockets and bombs exploded around the wounded figure like fireworks as over a dozen robotic combat drones converged, a single unit staying back to relay a video image to it's mistress.

Three fell in the first ten seconds of the attack, another fell as the target used his good arm to fling a Goblin glider at one of the drones as it was making another pass, shearing it cleanly in two. Flipping over a suicide charge, the would-be victim dug his fingers into the neck of a Goblin-bot, tearing it's head off and tossing it at a pumpin bomb, setting it off prematurely in the hands of one of the combat drones.

Skuld swore, watching in admaration as the first six were cut down in less than half a minute. He was beautiful to watch, dealing crippling and fatal blows with every move of his taut-muscled body, explosions trailed in his wake as he shattered her work with uncaring efficiency. She could see it in his eyes, he didn't care, they were nothing to him, simply beautiful, he tore through the remaining drones and landed atop a mostly intact glider as it slowly fell, it's engine's fluttering wildly, but still functioning.

Why was he just sitting there, looking around like that? Surely he knew the attack was over, he-

"Oh..... Of course." He was staring directly at her, his eyes burning into hers. He had found the last drone, the one ordered to hang back and relay the battle to her. Her fingers hovered over the keyboard, she could order the destruct sequence, and take out the drone before he could even reach it.

But she couldn't, she watched, captivated, as he flung himself from the glider, warping it into a V shape from the force of his leap, his left arm cocked back as he hurtled through the air, his face, tracked with smeared blood and soot, so grim. Static filled the screen a half heart-beat after he had begun to flex his arm.

Skuld typed a command into the computer, the last two point three five seconds replayed at a tenth of normal speed.

He hurtled through the air, fist cocked back, ready to deal the crushing blow that would crumple the drone's chest like a tin can, penetrate the croma-sheath coated titanium shell, plunge into it's core, and spread his fingers, shattering and deforming the critical components that the drone relied on to keep it running.

Typing in another command, the last frame appeared on the screen, she could clearly see his face, no signs of pain anywhere, he had given himself fully to the battle, as he allways did, no matter how short it was.

Sighing, Skuld brushed her fingertips over the monitor, tracing his lips, his smile that the drone's optical sensors had barely caught before it had been destroyed.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

The final two Green Goblin combat drones arrived roughly one minute after combat with the target had commenced, sensors picked up scattered debris of thirteen combat drones and several gliders. Pinging the tracking chips it's mistress had embedded in her creations, it picked up several signals, the gliders were intact, but flying mindlessly ahead, riderless.

A waste. The drone triggered the auto-destruct sequence on the errant gliders, dumping all the energy from their power cores into their drive systems all at once, obliterating them in four tenths of a second.

The mistress would need to be informed of the slow reaction time from the VTOL gliders engines. She would not be pleased with the results.

The twin emerald combat drones were not programmed the same as the first thirteen, these two were spicially prepaired for this target. The Goblin-bots lowered themselves to roughly the head height of the target, waiting for him to turn around and address the new threat.

These bots were programmed with banter.

"Prepare for distruction, commencing at plus one minute thirty four seconds of onset of hostilitys."

Not good banter though.

"Hmm....Ok, this tastes like my blood, wonder why it was different before?"

Several scannered flickered to life for a moment, designed for anything the mistress may need to be apprised of about her target. Torn muscles, bleeding, though, very minor considering the state of the contousions on his chest and under his arm.

Analysis? The target was within 96.5 of optimal functioning peramiters, belying the previous recorded data relayed by the thirteen drones reporting numbers at the onset of combat at 45.2 and rising over the duration of conflict to 70 the gap between perevious data and current could be abridged later.

"Begin termination, state identity for later archiving."

Turbines flared to life as the Goblin-bots hurtled themselves towards the figure.

Dropping into a low fighting stance, the figure grinned and flexed his arms. "Oh, so thats how it is eh? A challange? Fine! I am Mato Hibiki, founder of the Hibiki school of anything goes martial arts! And you'd better back up your files because your ass is grass!"

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Skuld sighed, the specialized combat drones had signaled termination at two and a half seconds from the onset of combat.

"Mato Hibiki, Noir isn't even a spark compaired to his raging bonfire."

"Shut up!" Growling under her breath, Skuld turned to glare at the speaker.

Housed in a cage suspended from the ceiling, her white mane of hair offset her dusky copper skin. "Face it Skuld, you can't even handle Noir, what makes you think you'll be able to have both him and Mato?"

"I brought Noir here, and I put Mato there! I can have them both if I want!"

Smirking, the goddess Urd folded her hands beneith her chin and stared at her 'sister'. "And what did you do with your sisters, hmmm?"

Skuld paled somewhat. "I....I put them to sleep, they're fine..... I.... They don't have to bother themselves with everything now, I can handle it myself. With that stupid Keichi gone, Bell will be happy, and Urd.....She, she can have any man she wants."

"And what if she wants Mato? What then?" Urd was enjoying herself, all things considered.

"She can't have him! She can have somebody else!"

"What about Noir then? Can she have him?"

"No! She can have somebody else!"

"What about Mato then? I think she'd like him more anyways."

"She can't have him! She can have anybody else!"

"Then how about Noir? Since he's free?"

"He's _mine!_ She can have-"

"But I thought you wanted Mato? You know you can't have them both."

Uttering a wordless shriek of fury, Skuld slammed her hand down on a large red button on her keyboard. Arcs of lightning wrapped themselves around Urds cage, flowing into her body, making her limbs tremble and spasm.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

"Hmmm.... Nope, useless, I just can't wrangle machines at all.... I guess I'll have to do this the old fashioned way." Tossing a chunk of scorched metal to the ground, Mato stood up and rubbed his back. He couldn't figure out for the life of him why he was wearing Spiderman's duds. "Hmmm, blank spot in the memory, but it's too recent for my usual, uh, quirk? Feels kinda raw too, so I wasn't the one who pulled it off."

Stripping the spandex costume off, he ran his fingers through his shaggy bangs, slicked with blood and sweat. "Heh, good old Spidey... I remember the first time we met....." Flexing his newly healed arm, he sat down and chuckled.

" 'Hey, I'm your friendly neighboorhood Spiderman, you're more like a ghetto, back ally, 'I got what you need' Spiderman.' " Throwing his head back, Mato let out a long laugh, stood up, and streched his arms over his head. Standing on his tip-toes, he streched his entire body out, sighing as him muscled pinged slightly from the tension. "Mmmm-eeaaahhh..... Aaahhh, that felt nice. Ok! Time to figure out where I should be going now."

Kickng a pile of charred robotic bits, he watched the way a random piece fell, it bounced to a stop vaugely to his left. "Yup! Left it is!" Grinning, he folded his hands behind his head and began marching off towards whatever was to the left.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Gasping, Urd pressed her face against the bars of her cage, the metal had cooled quickly and was like a balm against her feaverish skin. Beads of sweat trickled over her forehead, as a goddess, it took a lot to hurt her, and even more to leave any marks on her that lasted for more than a few hours.

Skuld's torture had toed that line, but just barely.

Typing furiously away at her computer, Skuld sucked on a mouthful of icecream, a small tub of the sweet frozen confection sat at her elbow.

Sighing, Urd was dimly aware of the fact that she had been stupid to come here alone, she was also very aware that she didn't have any other choice. As bad as her present situation was, it would be much, much worse if she hadn't set her plans in motion allready. Things would begin to fall into place soon, slowly at first, but once everything was aligned, it would domino, and nothing could stop them then. Not even Skuld.

Weakly brushing strands of sweaty white hair away from her eyes, she stared at her 'sister'. The Skuld of this world was obviously unbalanced, what had gone so very wrong with her? Something had started this obsession with Mato, and this Noir person. The eerie resemblance was....

Shaking her head, Urd closed her eyes and centered herself, the idiot had taught her a few lessons about focusing oneself, taught them all really.... "Keichi...." She smiled fondly, he had been the quickest out of all of them to pick up on it, maybe there was something there she could use, if, when she got out of this blasted cage.

Stilling that line of thought, she focused the tiny scrap of her power on back then, faintly reliving the lesson over. That was the trick of it, pulling your entire being into your fist, he had said. But, hadn't he also said once, that any trick you learned could be adapted to be used in other situations? Now would be a good time to test that theory.

Well, he had allways come through for everyone when they needed it, why not now? Even if what she was relying on was just a memory of him.

There, so far off, so very far off, but noticeable, it was.

That boy! That idiotic, stupid, dear, sweet man! He had held onto that blood, tucked it away and kept it seperate from the rest of him, he hadn't wasted or used it! Hope sung in Urd's head and veins, she let slip the bonds holding her mind to her body, and.....

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

"Gah! Holy shit that hurt!" Clutching his head with both hands, Mato Hibiki, spat and slowly sat up, the pain was even worse than the first burst, it had drove him to his need, turned his stomach and-

"Eeewww...." Spitting, he wiped bile from his lips and stood, the pain was flaring bright and hot like a star in his head, but he was ready for it now. What had caused.....So bright, and white, like a-

"Aaaawww shiiiittt....Get outta my head you bi-"

" 'You' WHAT?!"

"Wuh-oh." A burning lance of white hot pain knifed through his skull, making him stumble a bit before he recovered and shunted the damn scrap to somewhere else. "What the.... Oooohhh..." Smiling a little, he pressed his hands against his face and looked inwards.

There, floating in the small void he had within, was a woman, with dusky, coppery skin, and a mane of thick white hair, a trio of goddess marks on her forehead, and a smile on her lips. "Hey, are you tired baby? Cuz' you've been running, er, floating through my mind all-"

"Flatterer." The goddess of the past, eldest norn sister Urd, looked around at her new home for the moment, the void in Mato Hibiki's mind placed there by the gods at the moment of his conception. Though, it was doubtful they had planned on it being used like this, to hide the mind of one goddess from another.

"Uh, is now a good time to talk about you not peeking when I'm taking a leak?"

"................." This was, without a doubt, the stupidest idea Urd had ever had, she just knew it.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Freebie chapter title hint here! It's the opening lines to the english theme of 'Shaman King' from shounen jump, I love that show, though I rarely get to see it. The song itself just speaks so wonderfully for the show itself, and it seemed to fit for this chapter, though the ENTIRE song hints more of whats to come if you listen to it all.

Flamestrike - Eep! A gun to my head? Then I'd NEVER finish the story! Glad you like it though.

SpiderFreak - Glad to meet a fellow Spiderman fan, may I suggest you try to see some of the ninety's Spiderman cartoons? Those seem to capture the spirit of the series rather well, though, Spiderman unlimited was... Well, y'know. As you can see, I intend to keep writing as long as people keep reading, but, I don't think I'm good enough of a writer to get this published.

SushiiSquirrel - Greedy, taking all those cookies..... I wanted some too! Thanks for the compliment, I needed something new to do, and I figured I could mix it up a bit, combining flashbacks with the old bedside vigil, new twist on an old trick really. If you've ever seen that coma episode of the simpsons, you know what I mean. Yaay! I can write to invoke emotion! I hope everything is going ok for you though. You're my most frequent reviewer, and have constructive critisem too.

Mikai - Entertaining confusion eh? I am so going to copywrite that. I'm glad you liked the chapter.

This chapter came to me as a sort of daydream, and once my mind had gone through two or three paragraphs, I knew I'd have to write it, a lot of unwritten chapters have been passed up because I didn't have the time, or access to my computer, to get them down and posted, not this one though!

Anyways, have a happy new year everybody!


	11. Chapter Ten

Hey all! I know this chapter is pretty damn late, but I have a good excuse.

Bursitis.

Yeah, I messed up a... Muscle, thingy... Really... I have a doctor's note and everything.

...You're not buyin' it, are you?

Damn...

Anyways, this chapter should be a bit longer than the usual ones, it took me quite a bit to get it out, my poor hip area aches when I sit, so my knees have been suffering for you. So if you'll all forgive me, I'll leave you to our feature presentation, and get back to you after the sho- er, read.

Enjoy.

Mistaken Identity

Chapter Ten

What if one of the voices in my head is a chick?

-

Streams of lightning boiled down from the sky, conjured from the tips of the eldest Norn sister's fingers. "You can't keep dodging forever!" Sheets of lightning spilled from the heavens, glowing bright blue against the eeriely black, starless sky.

"Hah! That's what you think! I can keep this up aaaallll-" Launching himself into a backflip, a brightly clad figure tucked his arms up to his chest, landed on his shoulderblades, and flung himself back from another dozen or so bolts of lightning by shoving off of the ground with his hands. "Day, heh."

Grinning despite her frustraition, Urd couldn't help but continue the barrage even though she knew it'd be even less effective the more times she used it. She could try something else, but they weren't exactly going _all out_. Sparked by a sudden idea, she let loose a flurry of small bolts that wound erraticly through the air.

"Whoop! That's a new one! Woah! Yikes!"

Shaking her head, Urd hovered lower, fists on her hips. He was bouncing around like a hyperactive ping pong ball. "You're not even trying anymore, are you?"

He landed on his haunches just below her, hanging his head in mock shame. "Naah, I stopped after the third or fourth burst...Sorry..."

Letting out a huff of annoyance, Urd turned to survey the inky-black skyline behind her. Truth be told, this wasn't her first choice for a sparring partner, she would much rather-

"Penny for your thoughts?" He looked up at her with an impish grin, so childish and carefree.

"I was thinking about how easy it would be to snap my fingers and make your clothes vanish." Urd grinned devilishly, turning back around to lean over at the waist, giving him a good eyeful of her cleavage.

"Urk..." Falling over onto his butt, he began crabbing back as fast as his arms and legs would allow, before he froze in mid-crab. "Oh ha ha Urd, real funny."

Smiling mildly sweetly, she straightened up and fluffed her hair. "Call it revenge, my dear near-mortal." Sighing, Urd closed her eyes, thinking _out_. The inky void around them began to dissolve.

"Woah! Woulp!"

-

Gasping, an odd looking young man jerked up into a sitting position, the odd look was allmost painted onto his face, indelibly etched, one could say, his smile, his eyes, the way his hair fell over his face at the most opportune moments.

That, and the fact that he was wearing a tight red and blue bodysuit with black webs covering him from head to toe.

"Ok, that was neither gentle, nor slow. You totally lied to my ass Urd." Rolling lithely to his feet, Mato Hibiki streched his arms over his head and sighed. "Mmmmm-aaahhhhh... Ah well, as sparring sessions go, I'm feelin' pretty damn good. No bruises or nothin', nice."

"_Why aren't you wearing the mask? I told y_-"

"Yeah yeah yeah, 'wear the stupid mask, secret identity, blah blah blah.' Look Urd, it just ain't my style, ok?"

Sighing irritably, Urd roughly combed her fingers through her hair. It was bad enough that she was stuck inside someone's head, let alone his, but the fact that she had to live with this for an undefined period of time. "_Just put the mask on and get going, ok? Then_-" Urd blinked, she was going about this the wrong way, lately, Mato had seemed a bit more, childish, than usual, maybe it was a side effect of- "_I'll bet you ten bucks that you won't be able to beat the next person you have to fight_." Crude, yes, slightly Mato flavored, yes, would it work?

"Hah! You're on!" He pulled the scorched mask down over his face and ran to the edge of the building he had been laying on, leaping off the instant he reached the edge of the roof.

"_Yes, yes it would_." Inside his mind, Urd smiled to herself.

"You say somethin' Urd?"

"_Look out for the bus_."

"Uh-oh."

-

"Cough up the cash or the bitch get's iced!" Holding a nine millimeter handgun to an elderly woaman's head, a leatherclad small time crook threw an open backpack at the store's clerk.

"Original line, didja catch that one on late night with Leno, or are you a COPS fan?"

The young, stupid, and poorly dressed neer-do well, let's call him Ted, looked up, as did the half dozen 'friends' he had brought with him. "It's the bug!"

"Gee, you're just a vertibal fountain of unique phrases." Extending a hand, the arachnid superhero clung to the ceiling with his other hand and both feet, casually sitting on his haunches.

Nothing happened.

"Whoops! That's right, I can't do the webbing trick." Somewhere in the back of his head, Urd was slapping one hand over her face, the other hand was curled into a fist, and slowly thumping the top of her head, over and over again.

"Waste him!" Ted wasn't that much of an original thinker, but he had watched a lot of movies, plus, one really _could_ hit the broad side of a barn, if one was at point blank range. Half a dozen varying firearms unloading in an enclosed space made a very loud noise, with a roaring sort of undertone as the sound reverberated off of the walls.

Dropping from the ceiling, the red and blue figure tackled the closest goon, grabbed onto his jacket as he rolled over him, and threw the limp body at the farthest would-be robber from him. Turning, our bold and fearless hero snagged the closest object and flung it into the hands of the next farthest target, knocking his gun from his numbed fingers.

"_Lucky charms? Of all the things you could have thrown at a mortal with a deadly weapon, you pick a childrens breakfast cereal?"_

"Hey, they're right, it is bad for you." Grinning beneith the mask, Mato rolled under a hail of bullets, snagged poor Ted by the front of his shirt, and hefted him off of his feet. "Yo, find another way to make a living, or I'm gonna huck you into a moving van or something." Spinning on his heel, he tossed poor, poor Ted into a pair of his buddys, vaulted off to the side to avoid a spray of metal pellets from a shotgun blast, rebounded off of a wall, and drove his heels into the shooters face. "Clean up, aisle's two and four!" Spinning around, Mato dropped onto his back, jack-knifed his body, and wrapped his ankles around the last armed thug's extended wrist. "Ok, superhero, way better than you. Attacking from any side, bad idea. Any of this getting through, at all?" Straightening his body like a bent tape measure snapping back into place, he tossed the man, head first into a large display of salty snacks.

"Done and done." Reclining on the floor, the casual hero folded his hands behind his head and allowed himself a moment of well deserved satisfaction.

"_Weren't there SEVEN of them?"_

"...I just can't get a break, can I?" Vaulting up onto his feet, Mato bolted out the door after the last of the group, as usual, when outclassed and disarmed, the mooks allways headed out the back way and tried to make a run for it.

"_He's getting away_."

"The hell he is!" Pouring on the speed, the costumed interim superhero bounded over a dumpster, ran a few dozen feet up the side of a wall, and launched himself into a full body flying tackle, sending them both into a roll as he slammed into the punk's back. "Ok, y-" Flinging himself to the side, he narrowly avoided the fine spray of greyish goo that plastered the mook to the ground. "Gaahh, what is that gunk? It looks like-"

"Webbing, you should know what it is." The voice wasn't Urd's, not by a long shot.

"Who-" Blink. "Red and blue outfit, covered in webs, big black spider on the front, huge eyes." A very long pause. "Goopy goo...Stuff..."

"Take your time Forrest." Settling onto his haunches, the costumed man relaxed somewhat against the side of the building he was adhering to by the tips of his toes, if it weren't for the mask, one could swear that he was enjoying this.

"Spiderman?" Mato scratched the side of his head through his own mask, he was sure that Urd had set up this little universe with _him_ taking the place of the arachnid superhero.

"Surprised to see me? I know I am." Dropping free of the wall, the spectacular Spiderman walked over to the similarly costumed figure.

"Ok, I may not be a genius, but I know a ripoff of a line when I hear one."

"You're calling me a ripoff? You'd better take a good look at yourself, that's my outfit you're wearing buddy. You're taking a big risk on copyri-"

"Blah blah blah blah! Don't you ever shut up? You've got to be the yappyest excuse of a superhero that I've ever met."

"_This probably isn't the best time to-"_

"Oh shut up Urd, you've been a pain in my ass from day one, the pain's just been relocated to my head."

"Insults from a guy who yells at himself? Paging Dr.Freud."

"Oh, you bet you'll need a doctor after I'm done with you, you altruistic piece of shit."

"_Mato! The-"_

"And you! Get the hell out of my head so I can kick your ass! I've had enough of your meddling to last a lifetime."

"_I can't get out, I need a body to reside in, with the yggdrasil down, you're my only hope of-"_

"Do I _look_ like Obi-Wan Kenobi? Sorry, but old Ben's checked out! Ffft! Gone! Left the building! Assholes like him only make other people's lives miserable! Do you know how annoying it is to live by some good samaritan's standards? People allways expect you to go out of your way to do their crap for them!"

-

_"Old Ben's checked out! Ffft! Gone!"_

_Uncle Ben._

Those words stirred something in the back of Peter Parker's brain, uncle Ben, the man who had raised him as if he were his own son.

The man who had died because Peter had stood by and done nothing to stop what he had known was wrong.

The man who had taught him one indelible truth.

_With great power, comes great responsibility._

Shaking his head, Peter snapped out of his near fugue, and began looking around, searching for some sign, anything that stuck out. Flying into a rage, that wasn't like him, there had to be- There! Frowning grimly behind his mask, Spiderman vaulted into the air, latching onto the side of a building for a bare moment before launching himself onto the rooftop. Only one being could make people feel such anger, such self lothing.

D'Spayre.

Something was different though, he was...Darker. Hidden deep in shadows cast by nothing, his red eyes seemed to glow, making Peter's skin crawl.

When dozens of shadows slid from the shapless mass of shadow and seemed to climb up out of the ground, Peter knew he was in for trouble. When the shadows grew to over twelve feet tall, he drew on the only thing he could think of that could buy him a little time. "Uh, I don't suppose we could talk this over?"

Writhing lances of shadow struck the ground where Spiderman had been standing a moment before.

Completing his backflip, Spiderman wasted no time in firing a wide spray of webbing over half the rooftop. "Guess not, you'll just have to stick around for aw-" The shadow-born shapes slid through the webbing as if it were air. Peter immidiately went for his fallback plan. "Uh, a little help?"

-

"-And I said I don't care!"

_"What about Skuld? Who'll stop her then?"_

"Sh- Shut up!"

"Uh, a little help?

Growling, Mato turned his head to spit an expletive and froze. Shadow and hate, dark feelings and glowing eyes. He was no saint, but even he could tell a creature of darkness when he saw one.

_"That's the cause of all this, that demon is telepathic, and since you lack anything but crude mental shielding."_

"You had me at demon." Gritting his teeth, Mato clentched his hands into fists and stared at the thing of shade and sorrow. He could _feel_ it, it was feeding off of anguish, goading others into a downward spiral that-

"You want depression! You want sorrow and loathing! I'll give it to you then! Every drop I have!" Cupping his hands before him, whisps of energy began to dance before his fingertips, sparks of yellow energy that swirled and flowed. Light flickered, flashed, and burst into brilliant life around him, a cocoon of writhing yellow flames that lit up the alley like the noontime sun. "Shi..." The motes of light began to draw inwards on themselves, like fireflies drawn towards a bright light. "Shi..." Gathering together, those small flames coalesced into a perfect sphere of energy the size of a golfball. "Hoku..." The globe of solid light in his palms grew quickly as Mato poured on the negitive feelings of the past minute, if he drew on too much pain, he could easily wipe out the entire building and many more behind it as well. Raising his arms, he pointed the miniature sun at the demon responsible for this small scrap of torment. The orb pulsed and doubled in size, swelling as big as a bowling ball. This loss of _control_- It was _unforgiveable!_ "DAN!"

-

_Spidersense._

Launching himself away from the three or so shadow shapes he had been slugging it out with, the Spectacular Spiderman flipped heels over head, fired twin streams of webbing up at the ground, and yanked for all he was worth. A ball of blazing yellow light screamed past him, missing by a bare handspan, slammed into a _very_ surprised D'Spayre's chest, who made an unholy shriek like a thousand things being damned for all eternity as the ball exploded. A shockwave of hazy grey light pulsed outwards, rending the shadow creatures before the actual explosion obliterated them.

Landing in a crouch on the side of an adjoining building, Peter stared at the space D'Spayre had occupied.

There was _nothing._ No smoke, no ash, no _rooftop_ for several feet, just a perfectly circular hole. "What _was_ that?"

"_That_, is what happens when you piss off one of the devine." Mato sat across from Spiderman, one leg casually crossed over the other, on the edge of the rooftop formerly occupied by the demon D'Spayre. His gloves had been completely burned off halfway up the forearm, though his flesh showed no trace of injury. "Mato Hibiki, Goddess taxi." Holding out his hand, as if he expected a handshake across the twenty foot gap that seperated them, he peeled his mask off with the other, flashing Spiderman a small smile. "Welcome to the group."

-

The title explains itself. Or, at least, it should. Now then, on to the reviews.

SushiiSquirrel - Heh, I saw the Phantom of the Opera when I was in sixth grade, I loved it. Actully, when I read that bit, it reminded me of one particular line from the song that probably subconsciously inspired the whole 'goddess in the head' thing. "The Phantom of the Opera is here, inside my mind." Loved it. Yay! Not only a good chapter, but I've got style too? Go me! Yeah, I'm humble. Heee... Don't expect perfection from Urd... I actully haven't seen or read much of Ah! Megami-sama, but a friend introduced me to the characters, and I instantly fell in love with them... Guys are allowed to do that, right? Love a character for being a good person? ...We're not? Uh... Ok... I like her... Jugs? ...Yeah, woosh, there go all my readers. I'm kidding, incase some of you don't realize it. Thanks for sharing that with me, I love those kinds of storys too, a feeling of depth, and a realness that seems... Too real to be life somehow. Maybe there's more to that, somewhere, but I'll leave describing that to people good with words and stuff. I dunno, let the historians decide or something. As for typo's... Uh, well, I tend to type very quickly, and I'm a speed reader, so I tend to gloss over words a bit, sorry about that, hopefully, I'll learn to reread these things before I post them. As for those titles, I've read The Lord of the Rings, loved it, saw the movies, good too. Harry potter? ...Ok! I read the first four books in one night, but that means nothing! Got it? Don't worry though, I think I know where you're coming from. Uh, though, this chapter is a big narrow in perspective, one to two notes, sorry about that.

Mikai - Confusion? That's one of my elements! And Mato's too. Chaos will play a big part later on, but out of the entire world's population, only one other person will know what that means. You know who you are. Yes, Noir, Mato and Urd, these three will be center stage, but since this is a Spiderman fic, he's going to be deep in this as well. Uh, about the blood and gore... That's more for dramatic impact, I'm not a very big fan of that kind of stuff, at all. Bleeding from the mouth, or light trickles from small wounds is more to my preference. The by-play between characters will be important as the fic goes on, as well.

-

Now then, for a small recap, the characters are as follows:

Ben Riley, AKA, the Scarlet Spider: Peter Parker's clone. From, the Spiderman comic series, check it out online for more backstory if you'd like.

Peter Parker, AKA, the Spectacular, the amazing, yadda yadda yadda, Spiderman! The guy we all know and love, the first one is also from the comic series.

Peter Parker #2, AKA, see above. Does not exist. Thats right, he's gone. From, the movie-verse, instead of the movie's epic showdown, Mato has taken this Spiderman's place and killed off the green goblin. The impact on this world is unforseen, at least for now.

Peter Parker #3, AKA, I'm sure you get it by now. From?. This little tidbit is going to stay locked up for the time being, you wouldn't want me to spoil anything, would you?

Urd, AKA the eldest Norn sister, the goddess of the past, the cupid of love. (I think.) From, Mato's home demension, after all, that's where they met, also known as Urd's home demension, Earth Primary, if you'd like. Currently inside of a devine space inside Mato's head. (Go figure, he's got a goddess on the brain.) Urd #2, 'sleeping'.

Skuld, AKA, the youngest Norn sister, the goddess of the future. From, her own dimension, wherever that may be. Skuld is currently plotting some great scheme from her home base, whereabouts undisclosed.

Belldandy, AKA, the middle Norn sister, goddess of the present. From, both her home dimension, Earth Primary (Belldandy #1) and, from her home dimension where Skuld is currently residing. (Belldandy #2) The 'sleeping' Belldandy mentioned is Skuld's actual sister, fate unmentioned.

X-men cast. From, Spiderman #1's universe.

Merlin and King Arthur. From, Avalon, whereabouts, unknown. The mystical isle of Avalon beyond the ken of mortal men, it's location, therefore, is impossible to pinpoint, unless you allready know where it is.

Noir, AKA, well, Noir, really. From, unknown, currently residing in Peter Parker and Ben Riley's universe.

Mato Hibiki, AKA the lost eternal boy, Mato, the Goddess taxi, feather duster, lost boy, esoteric, asshole. From, his home demension, Earth Primary. Best described as 'complicated.'

-

That should just about do it, if I've left anyone out, feel free to let me know. Requests for more information are welcome, I don't bite... Not very often at least.


	12. Chapter Eleven

Once again, I've made an error in one of my chapters, and once again, it seems no one but myself has caught it. When Noir's DNA was being examined by Jean Grey, she claimed it was full of 'good DNA'. Now, while this may not be an error literally, it is an error in context. The terms 'good' and 'junk' are used a bit haphazardly by me, in regards to Noir's genes. For those of you who don't know, 'junk DNA' isn't DNA that's useless, it's DNA that the scientific community has little or no understanding of as to it's use or function. Since Noir isn't a mutant, he doesn't have the so called 'X gene' that would explain his powers. While 'good DNA' can explain his ability to leap particularly high compaired to the average human, or the ability to lift several tons, it doesn't explain his ability to project kenetic energy or to 'magicly' change his clothing on demand. The latter, well, some of the latter, can be attributed to 'junk DNA'. So, while Jean's testing would produce accurate results, meaning, that the dominant human genes are inherantly 'good', a lot of the overall results would be meaningless to her.

Phew, that took a bit out of me.What else, what else? Oh yes, I have a plot, it's just going on in the background it seems, if you squint _really_ hard though, you should be able to make it out. If you can't seem to figure it out though, don't worry, you're not alone.

And if you know what the word 'esoteric' means, you're two steps ahead of the pack. Kudos.

It doesn't count if you had to look it up though.

Mistaken Identity

Chapter Eleven

Like any story worth telling, this one is about a girl.

BEGIN CHAPTER

Life used to be so simple. Save the girl, beat the villan, sleep. The same old thing, day in, day out. Then, one day, I met this girl, and everything changed.

It wasn't something instant, everything didn't just suddenly 'click'. It didn't slowly dawn on me over time, it was like remembering something I allready known and had just forgotten for awhile.

I met this girl, and then, I met the same girl, only, she wasn't the same girl, she was trying to kill me.

Or maybe she was just desperate for a date and wouldn't take 'no' for an answer.

I'm still not too clear on that.

Hindsight is such a funny thing, everything can be all dark and muddy You spend your hours and days wondering, trying to make some sense of something that reads like a stack of papers gone through a shredder. Then, after it's all over, when everything is said and done, it seems so clear, so obvious.

What you should have done, what you could've done, what you would have done, if only you had known. But, of course, that's the thing about hindsight, you didn't know, so you couldn't do anything about it at the time.

That's the thing I love about it all, it let's you kick yourself in the ass and say 'What an idiot I was.'

But that's the thing, about being human. You're no smarter, no wiser, you just realize that you messed up, and say to yourself; 'I'll never do _that_ again.'

And then you do.

Y'see, that's what being human _really_ is, being ignorant.

The important thing is to realize that you have been ignorant, accept it, and learn to do things differently. The only problem is, how do you know that you're ignorant, if you're really ignorant?

That's another thing about being human, you're a walking contradiction.

Ain't it grand?

BREAK DAMMIT

Groaning at the sudden strain he was putting on his muscles, Noir forced his legs to move, locking his knees to prevent himself from falling over onto his face. "Yeah, this isn't feeling too good...Little help?" Gritting his teeth from the effort of working muscles and joints that had become weakened from a month of atrophy, he clentched one of his hands over the safety rail bolted to the side of the bed.

Stepping closer, Jubilee grabbed one of Noir's wrists and draped his arm over her shoulders, half-dragging him across the room. "Let's go Van Winkle, we don't have time for jumping jacks." Pushing open the door with her free hand, Jubilee was forced to wrap her arm around the weakened hero's waist as his legs buckled.

"Not feelin' so hot right now, come back...Next...Weee..." Noir's vision hazed out in a blur of throbbing purple as his heart raced to feed blood to his head, getting up so quickly after being bedridden for a month was allready pushing him to his limits, he was in no condition to be sitting upright, let alone walking.

"Upsy-daisy! We've got to get out of here before-" The floor seemed to quiver slightly, it was almost imperceptible with the deadweight in her arms. Then the floor moved again, mimicing the crawling sensation of Jubilee's skin. A third time, the floor actully shuddered, she could feel the vibrations through the soles of her sneakers and everything in the medical room not bolted down bounced, jangled or clattered a testiment to the approching danger. Now moving heedless of Noir's discomfort, Jubilee hooked her elbows under his arms and began dragging his limp body backwards towards the lift. "Just great. '_Stay home Jubilee, it's safer at the mansion.' _Riiii-ight." Hugging the body to her chest with one arm, she used the elbow of her free arm to jab the 'up' button, she could feel the shaft vibrate through the metallic doors her back was pressed against. "Come on, come on..._'It's too dangerous for you to go on missions yet, maybe when you're older.'_ Yeah, if I _live_ to be any older."

The doors silently parted behind her, dumping Jubilee to the floor of the elevator on her backside, Noir's upper torso sprawled over her thighs. "They'd better make this one up to me in spades." Squirming backwards, she roughly hauled Noir towards her as the door slid shut. Silently contemplating the doom that awaited them above, Jubilee tried to ignore the awkward position she was in, and succeeded, for a few seconds.

Pent up frustration boiled to the fore as she glared down at the masked face pressed against the inside of her thighs. "If you even _think_ about waking up now, I'm going to kill you."

ANOTHER BREAK

"With great power, comes great responsibility."

"With gr- what? What the hell is that? Sounds like something you'd find in a fortune cookie."

Inwardly, Peter bristled. Uncle Ben had taught him those words, imparting a sort of guideline by which he would live his life. He had great power, and he chose to use that power responsibly. He protected the people of New York, instead of using that power for his own gain. He had done that once, never again would he make that same mistake.

_"Maybe you should watch what you say, he is a 'hero'."_

"And what the hell am I, chopped liver?" Urd allways had something to say, Mato wasn't sure if it was because she was a goddess, because it was in her personality, or because she was a woman.

"Huh?" Peter cocked his head to the side, confused by the sudden, not to mention strange remark.

_"I heard that."_

"Crud." Staring at Peter Parker for a moment, Mato reached out and swung his arm at the boy's face.

"Wh-" For some reason, Peter's spidersense didn't blare an alert, not like it usually did. This time it felt sluggish, perceptibly slower. Blunt too, like something had dulled it's edge. The back of Mato's hand caught Peter on the cheekbone, cranking his head back and to the side, making stars swim through his vision. He felt the room lurch to a dizzying angle, and something slammed into the backs of his shoulders. Colors flashed between the ceiling and his eyes, deep red and a sort of bruised purple that didn't really go with the apartment's color sceme. Then everything went black.

YET ANOTHER BREAK

A sigh, feminine and breezy, drifted on the air. _"I can see he has as delicate a touch as ever."_ A shadow flitted over Peter's face, cutting off the warm sunlight he was enjoying. That was wrong, somehow.

Opening his eyes, He saw a face, coppery skin and white lustrous hair was all that he could make out. Flexing his fingers, he felt fine, gritty sand against his skin. That was wrong too.

Another voice called from nearby. "Oi! Urd! Izzat kid awake yet?"

Smiling, the woman turned to the side, her thick hair brushing against Peter's bare chest. He could make out her face now, beautiful, delicate features, as perfect as any movie stars. An odd trio of blue marks on the middle of her forehead and on her cheekbones stood out. They suited her somehow, Peter decided, as if her face wouldn't look complete without them. _"Yes, he's awake, no thanks to you."_

"Hey, you're the one who suggested this whole thing y'know!"

_"I did not suggest knocking him senseless."_

"Senseless, trance, same difference."

Sighing, the woman, Urd, for that was who she was, put a hand to her face and muttered something about 'suffering fools'.

"Where-" He sat up. He was sitting on a strech of sand that continued on to the horizon both right and left. Craning his head to look over his shoulder, he noted the slight rise that led to an equally endless strech of lush green grass. Turning back, he stared at the just as equally, if not more so, endless blue sheet of water before him. "We're on the beach." He took in the pristine sight for a few seconds, before adding, "Why are we on the beach?"

"What, y'don't like the beach? Everybody loves the beach."

_"Not Skuld._"

"Why the hell not?"

_"Sand gets into her machines."_

"Oh."

Slowly standing up, Peter noticed that his head felt fine, none of the usual throbbing and skull splitting agony that usually if not allways accompanied a good stiff shot to the head. Brushing his hands off on his chest, he also realized that he was dressed in a pair of swimming trunks, blue and red, with black webbing overtop.

"Ya like?" Peter looked up to find the man who had knocked him for an extended loop grinning at him, wearing nothing but a pair of black and yellow swim trunks. "My idea, Urd wanted to stick you in a robe or something more 'fitting' the occasion. Goddesses, feh, as 'wise' and 'semi-all powerful' they may be, they just don't get the idea of a theme."

"Huh?" Peter brushed his hands off again, this time on the trunks. He felt a little out of touch with his surroundings, and the word goddess wasn't sinking in properly.

"Costume, y'know, your battle gear?"

_"Battle garb."_

"No, I'm pretty sure it's 'battle gear'."

_"Which one of us is the goddess of the past?"_

"Oh yeah? Which one of us actully _gets_ the idea of battling?"

"Um, excuse me?" Peter felt like he was on a G rated episode of Jerry Springer or something equally as impossible. "Are you two married or something? Because I can just g-"

_"What?"_

"The hell?"

"Oh, um... I..." Mildly stunned from the twin pairs of intense eyes boring into him, Peter hastily tried to recover his mental footing. "Ah, what I ment was, well, you two act like you're-"

"Me an' her?"

_"Married to him? How hard did you hit him?"_ Turning to look at Mato, Urd gave him a sharp glare.

"Hey, I didn't hit him _that_ hard. Just a little smack upside the head is all."

"Where are we anyways? Really where we are, not just 'the beach'."

"Oh, heh, we're in some sorta shared dream thingy."

_"We're in a unified cognative trance."_

"That's what I said, a shared dream thingy."

Sighing, Urd pressed her plams against her face, muttering something sounding suspiciously like a prayer. _"This is exactly why we need that charm."_

"Charm? What charm? Is it anything like lu-"

_"Please don't mention cereal, I've had enough of that sort of joke to last five lifetimes."_

"Oh." Peter said dully, feeling more out of his depth than he had been in highschool, and that was about as far as one could get.

"Funny, you don't look a day over twenty."

I BLAME STUPID PREVIEW THING

Hauling Noir down the richly carpeted hallway, Jubilee wondered just how beat up the body she was dragging along really was. Jean had announced before leaving the Noir was healing rapidly, but what was that in relation to? Rapidly compaired to Logan? Rapidly compaired to a normal human? Rapidly compaired to someone who had both arms shattered like glass might apply, she supposed. "You'd better be good for something besides a bed warmer."

The sickening lurching of the floor suddenly stopped, as did the subsonic thudding that had accompanied it. "Good thing, or bad thing?" Dragging Noir into the main foyer, she jerked around and stared at the large double doors at the front of the mansion, doing a fair impression of a deer caught in a truck's headlights. Soft creaking sounds were never a good thing to hear after lots of heavy thudding, she decided as she hauled Noir behind the low wall next to the stairs overlooking the foyer.

Thats when a pair of giant purple hands crashed through the front wall, obliterating the front door and several square yards of wall in the process.

Jubilee's pitiful whimper was drowned out by the sound of the giant metal body that followed the arms through the front wall.

Colored in a rather ugly shade of purple from elbow to fingertip, as well as knee to foot, the rest of the massive metallic robot was colored a deep blue. It looked vaugely centurion-like and stood roughly thirty feet tall.

A Sentinel. A machine made for the sole purpose of hunting down and either capturing or worse, killing, mutants.

Peeking around the edge of the wall and down the staircase, Jubilee watched as the mechanical beast strode to the base of the stairs, it's red eyes glowing brightly in the dim light cast by cracked and broken light fixtures along the walls.

"Mutant detected."

She couldn't help but tremble at the sound of it's synthesized voice. 32 Kilobytes of terror. The clanking sound of a rachet being cranked in slow motion was another kind of terror all together, it was the sound metallic tendrils extruding from the machine's palms.

"Unnhhh... Is this a bad time to ask for a glass of water?" Noir's head lifted off of the floor, swaying aimlessly as he tried to sort out what his eyes were telling his brain.

"Shhhh! We-" Jubilee never got the chance to finish, as gunmetal grey ropes speared through the flimsy wall they were using for shelter and wrapped around both of their bodys, scooping them up as if they were mere dolls.

"Mutant apprehended. Target apprehended." The sentinel lifted them up towards it's chest, where a seam was quickly spreading from neck to waist. Pannels slid apart to expose a flat grey screen that brightened with a brief crackle of static before projecting the image of a girl not much younger than Jubilee. "Transceiver online. Speak."

Jubilee stared at the girl on the screen, stunned as she was by this sudden twist, all she could utter was a stupifyed- "Uhhhh..."

"It means me... Hello Skuld, playing with bigger toys now I see." Noir shook his head and seemed to throw off the worst of the groggy feeling that had enveloped him since he had woken up. "Some kids just never seem to grow up, do they?"

Skuld flashed a sunny smile and snapped her fingers. A wire-frame model of the Sentinel appeared over her shoulder. "What's holding you n-" Turning bright red as the rest of the comment sunk in, Skuld snapped her fingers again. This time, electricity crackled along the length of the tendril that held Noir, crawling across his body, making him jerk and spasm untill she snapped her fingers again. "Ahem, as I was saying, before you so _rudely_ interupted me... What's holding you now is a design made by the resident humans of this dem-"

Noir coughed, smoke rising from his costume in places, he hadn't thought to insulate it, or even put in padding, it was simply regular cloth. "So you're saying you couldn't come up with the lame idea of making this hunk of junk yourself? Sad, you're losing your touch."

Turning even redder, Skuld snapped her fingers again, and once more, electricity coursed through Noir's body. It lasted for several seconds this time, clearly, the first had merely been a warning. "-Ension. Obviously, I have improved on the series by adding my own touches here and there." Skuld beamed onscreen. "Do you like my logo? It took a long time to get the colors just right."

"I'd be more impressed if you weren't trying to kill me, I'm not a lightbulb y'know." If it was possible, Noir sounded even worse off than before. Parts of his costume were actully burning.

Snapping her fingers again, the seemingly omniscient girl triggered the fire suppression devices in the sentinel's upper arm, shrouding Noir in a cloud of CO2. "Silly, I'm not trying to kill you, I'm just trying to show you that it's far better to just give up and be with me than to keep fighting me like this."

"You sure have a funny way of showing it." Jubilee snapped from off to the side, she felt like a guest star or something. If her arms weren't pinned to her sides, she would have paffed the screen with her powers, followed by the sentinel's eyes.

Completely ignoring the junior X-man, Skuld covered half of her face with a hand. Perhaps she was making a vague mockery of Noir's choice of clothing at the moment. "Well? Have you decided? What do you say?"

Coughing to clear his lungs, Noir weakly lifted his head to stare at the screen in disbelief. "What do I say? I say..." Wrentching an arm free from the tight embrace of the metal coils, he viciously stabbed his finger into the sentinel's chest. "BAKUSAI TENKETSU!"

The sentinel remained stationary for a moment, before breaking apart. Not like it had been hit by a particularly crushing force, no, Noir's pitiful jab had made a hole as big around as a nickel, but the result was quite the opposite. The sentinel blew apart like a giant grenade, pieces of it flying all over, embedding themselves into the floor, ceiling and walls of the X-mansion's foyer.

Jubilee watched the ensuing chaos from Noir's protected embrace, he had snatched her away from the destruction at the last second and they were currently huddled beside the stairs. The ruined pile of splintered wood offered some meager protection. Once it was over, Noir pulled away and tugged Jubilee to her feet. Nothing was left of the sentinel, it was scattered all over the room in pieces.

"Wow." This guy was, well, amazing. He was sorta like Psylocke and Colossus rolled up into one, with a dash of Logan to boot. "How'd you-"

"Save it, round two's comin' up, and I think I just made Skuld mad." Pointing outside, Noir lowered himself into a half crouch.

Following his point, Jubilee paled slightly.

Roughly a dozen sentinels were touching down on the mansion grounds and were slowly stomping their way towards the mansion.

"I think we can take 'em."

"...Has anyone ever told you that you're nuts?"

"It's come up once or twice."

CHAPTER END

Review time!

SushiiSquirrel - Well, you said you wanted more Noir, so here you go. I hope this enough to hold you untill the next chapter. And besides the wit, I hope I've added another few vague hints about the plot.

Mikai - And you'll keep those words to yourself missy! No cussing here... Er... Besides what I write...

Moonjava - Thanks?

So, sorry I took so long with this chapter, I was in a bit of a funk over.. Well, some personal things, and worrying about my poor leg. Ah well, no reason for you all to suffer for it, right?

But, did you ever notice, how the X-men never seem to be of any use? At all? What's up with that?


	13. Chapter Twelve

Hey all! I'm back once again from another long ass trip where I didn't do much of anything at all. But it was a nessisary one anyways. A tip for those of you who like to party all weekend, or plan on doing it one day; don't try it, it really sucks to only have three hours of sleep after eighty hours of being awake.

It really sucks.

Mistaken Identity

Chapter Twelve

If this is tuesday, then it must be Tokyo.

"Holy crap!"

Sharpened steel cut through the air with an angry hiss, leaving a short and very clean cut across the front of Mato Hibiki's shirt. Completing his backstep, he changed direction, stepping back into the space he had cleared to make way for the sword. "First lesson, allways control your zone!" Stepping forwards again, he dropped onto his tailbone to avoid the quick riposte.

_"Careful, these suits of armor are-"_

"I know I know, made of metal!" Rolling back onto his shoulders, Mato kicked one leg into the air, catching the hollow suit of armor on the leading elbow to stop the two handed downward swing. His other foot crumpled it's metal torso with the sound of a gong being dropped ten stories.

"Hah, piece of cake." Rolling backwards, heels over head onto his feet, Mato slapped his hands on his thighs to clear the dust from his pants, then fingered the neat cut in his shirt. "Assholes, I allways lose tunics that way... D- Uh-oh." Leaning back, he felt a sliver of fire trace along his cheek.

_"Are magical, they don't fall over and lay there like most mortals do."_

"Now you tell me." Ignoring the trickle of blood flowing down his face, he tilted his head to the side and gestured for the metallic foe to come closer. "C'mon, don't'cha want another piece? Bring it, you reject from a junk he- Whoop!"

The suit brought it, stepping forwards to deliver a mighty overhead slash with both hands, stepping into the swing to add devastating force. The blade hissed through the air again, and sang as it struck.

"Heh, looks like ya missed, ya wanna try that again?" Standing with his arms crossed over his chest, Mato smirked at the suit as it wrenched it's blade from the floor. "I'm starting to get it, you only have as much skill as the person who made you, and since that punk kid ran off... Heh." Leaning back to avoid a backhand slash from the animated iron suit, he shook his head. "You swing that thing like a baseball bat." Another clumsy swing, and again, Mato merely leaned to avoid the blade. "Really, if this is all you got, lay down and save me the trouble."

_"Taunting it isn't the best idea you've ever had."_ Urd sounded a bit, antsy, for some reason, he noted.

"It's a hunk of metal, it doesn't have any feelings. C'mon Urd, that kid was a ninth rate magic user, even I could tell that." Another poorly aimed swing, another evasion, this time a sidestep as Mato focused more on Urd's changed tone rather than on the fight. "Sloppy with his follow through too, hope he doesn't plan on playing in the majors." Dropping into a crouch to avoid having his head cleaved off, he arched an eyebrow. "Something wrong Urd? You sound a bit stressed."

_"You would be stressed too, if your life was riding- Since when were you an expert on magic users, mortal or otherwise?"_

"Hey, y'know, I get around." Planting a hand on the floor, he swept both legs around to scoop the suit's footing out from under it. "I learn a trick or two." Shifting into a handstand, he continued his twisting movement to spin around on his palm and jack-knifed his body, dropping his legs earthward. "You go to the Brazil, see a bit of Capoeira, mix it with some modern gymnastics..." Rotating his shoulder and center of balance, he slammed his heels into the chest of the falling suit of armor before it could finish hitting the ground. "Add some super-human strength and speed..." Sitting casually with his legs crossed, he shrugged again.

Urd was getting close to her wits end, being in a mortal body was bad enough, but to have to share it with such a reckless person. _"Must you insist on restricting your powers? We have more important things to do than to waste time fighting!"_

"Oh, so you caught that didja? Enh, it was bound to happen." Standing up, be brushed off the seat of his pants and arched an eyebrow at the now motionless suit of armor. "What, we all done here?"

_"That's odd, the spell's duration couldn't have worn off that fast... It's almost, as if... Mato! Move!" _Something bad was coming, some sort of danger, she could feel it through him.

"Huh? Nah." Bending over to take a closer look at the body, he frowned. "No way it's that easy."

_"Move! Move! Something's attacking us!"_

"Oh so now it's us now... Figures, whenever something stupid happens, it's just me, but when it's immanent danger and/or death, it's we." Crossing his arms over his chest, he squatted down, balancing on the tips of his toes.

_"But we could DIE!"_

"Hey, we're not dead yet, are we?" He leaned forwards again, resting his elbows on the ground, keeping his arms folded. "...What keeps making that swishing noise?"

"ARGH! How could you have dodged every one of my attacks!"

"Hmm?" Turning his head to glance over his shoulder, Mato's expression changed, rather humerously. Like he saw a walking jellyfish or something. "Uuuhh...I don't quite know how to tell you this..." He rolled onto his side, resting on one knee and an elbow. "I didn't even notice that you were there."

_"...You're kidding, right?"_

"... No! I refuse to accept that!"

A sigh. "Yeah, a lot of people are saying that today..." Standing up, Mato dusted himself off. "Anyways, drop the big metal stick and give it up allready. C'mon, you didn't stand a chance even when you had me by surprise."

"You're just trying to get me to drop my guard! Some sort of ninja trick!" He hefted this six foot long and mildly curved sword like it was a stick. A very large and sharp stick, but still, a stick.

"Aaaaaand you're...Who now?"

_"He's the mage you chased off, remember?"_

"I am Kevin! Sorcerer supreme! Master of the arcane! Warlock allmi-"

"Ye-ah, listen Kev... You get your spells from books, ne?"

"That's Kevin, sorcerer supreme! And yes, I have mastered the lore of countless sp-"

"Yeah yeah yeah, whatever... You're a wizard or a mage then punk, sorcerer's don't need books... Dipshit."

Kevin, sorcer- er, Kevin, wizard supreme, stared blankly for a moment, slack jawed, grip loosening on his massive sword. "...But the handbook said sorcerer..."

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Mato lowered his head. "Oh my G... You need a _handbook_ for this crap?"

"The Player's Handbook, Third Edition. And the Dungeon Master's Guide, same edition."

"... You learned this from a shitty D&D book!"

"Hey! It's a really good game!"

_"What did I ever do to deserve this?"_

Some people measure the passing of time in days, some in weeks, even months. The really obsessed, or just nostalgic, measure it in years and decades. Historians, and archaeologists go for centurys and millennia. Gives 'em more bang for their buck, I suppose.

But when you're really waiting for something, or are just bored, you watch it go past by the hour.

I've been counting it by the second since I woke up.

Yeah, it's been that kinda day.

"Friggin' Tuesdays..." Rubbing at the scorch mark on his costume's thigh in irritation, Noir was doing his best to ignore the blood welling out of his shoulder. "Y'gonna muck around some more, or are you planning on taping that hole sometime today?"

"Sorry..." Jubilee hung her head a little lower as she fumbled with the surgical tape. Noir had insisted on tape, not guaze. Tape, he informed her between hisses of pain, didn't shift around as much as guaze did. She tried to use the guaze anyways, and got a fair good yelling for it. A lot of swearing too. To say Jubilee's spirits weren't soaring would be like saying the Hindenburgh was _mildly_ flammable.

Complete, total, apocalyptically depressed. That was getting closer, in her opinion.

"I'm not mad at you." Noir sighed and hung his head, sighing as he focused on nothing. The shattered rock strewn over the mansion grounds looked like salted salad, he noted, as it dissolved into a white-green blur.

"You're not?" She'd hate to see him actully mad then, she'd never heard _that_ combination of curses mixed with so many foreign languages. At least, she assumed that most of what he was saying were actual words. There was an outside chance, at any rate.

"No, I'm very pissed off at Skuld right now, you just happen to be dumb enough to be hanging around at the moment." The green started fading out now, as he descended deeper into his own mind. Jubilee's voice began to grow faint.

"Who is she anyways? That girl, Skuld... Really seemed off her rocker, ya know?" Busying herself, she tried to forget how useless she had been. Covering a quarter sized hole in a man's shoulder was hard enough with all the blood oozing out, not gushing, she realized. Maybe he was running out of- No, best not to think about that, she decided. What really made it tricky was the costume that he was wearing, it stuck to the torn flesh, and the blood made it very slippery. "I hate spandex."

"You too?" Noir sounded fairly amused at that announcement. "I hear there's a lot of that going around lately." His face felt... Distanced. Probably what Botox injections felt like, he assumed. "Skuld was- Is still, I guess, the youngest of the Norn sisters." His own voice sounded far off too, he noted, he was drifting too far in on himself, shutting out too much of the world around him. He needed to find a balanced state of mind. "And the goddess of the future."

"No- What? A goddess? How much blood did you lose anyways?" There, she had finished covering the hole with tape, and for a moment, recalled how the hole had got there in the first place. That was going to make a great story. Watching a guy speared by a metal rod smashing a sentinel with his bare hands, pulling the thing out of himself, and tossing it like a javelin into the head of another walking death-bot. Too bad there was a vaguely Noir-shaped hole in the mansion now.

"Enough... More than enough." Shaking his head brought the world back, along with the sickening feeling of missing hunks of flesh. Noir stood up and brushed Jubilee's restraining hands away. "I'm fine for now, we've got another wave incoming." Frowning beneith his mask at the incoming shape, barely visible against the night sky, he tentively flexed his muscles. Sharp pain flared along his shoulder, and over his back and ribs. Dull pain pounded everywhere else. He'd live. "I thought these robots were supposed to be _smart_. They keep comin' straight at us, and we keep knocking them apart."

"More you tha-"

The X insignia on Jubilee's belt strobed for a moment, then lit with a bright red light. "Jubilee? Are you allright? What happened? Respond." Cyclops' terse voice crackling through the belt mounted radio sounded a bit distant, but no less commanding than it usually did.

Heasitating for a moment, Jubilee touched the device lightly. "I'm fine, but Noir's-"

"Fine too, now land your ass and quit yackin'."

"What! Who the he-"

"I'll explain everything when you land. Uh, gotta go, Noir's hurt." Tapping the radio to shut it off, Jubilee gave Noir a semi-stunned look.

"What? Can I help it if I _like_ being an asshole?"

"Now bow before my mi-"

Crack!

"Shut up allready, geez..." Shaking his fist, Mato stepped back slightly from Kevin, staring at the boy in mild surprise. "Usually, people fall down when I hit them in the mouth." He shook his hand again, it was tingling faintly, and that was bad.

"Breaking into what was probably supposed to be triumphant laughter, Kevin, wizard allmighty, struck a dramatic pose. "Your puny fists are no match for the mi-"

Crack!

"Seriously, fall down allready, this is getting old." Rubbing his fist lightly, Mato stepped back and considered his options, limited as they were. He didn't like the idea of using deadly force, even on a loudmouth punk like this kid. "Lemmie guess, stone skin?"

"Iron skin, you half witted dupe! Your feeble blows are nothing compaired to the arcane might I wei- Hey! Let me go!" Dropping his oversized sword, Kevin began flailing his free arm as he was bent over and put into a wrist lock.

"Hard skin doesn't protect your joints so well, does it?" Grinning, Mato slipped his foot between the boy's ankles and tilted his body to the side, grabbing Kevin's other arm by the elbow and pulling it up over his head. "No more spells for you today." Flexing his knees, he pulled the teenaged magic user farther off balance. "Y'know, I'm starting to enjoy this."

That was when the fireball hit them.

To say it hurt a little was an understatement.

Sort of like saying that the sun was largish, and mildly warm.

"Must everyone and their grandmother blast me today!" A cool blue nimbus of light flickered about Mato's body as the heat melted away. Growling under his breath, he was looking in the direction the flaming projectile had come from. "If this is a joke, it's a pretty damn sick one."

Kevin's teeth were chattering, he felt like he had been dumped into a pile of snow in his underwear. "F-f-freezing aura eh?" He smiled weakly, looking up at Mato's face through the wintery glow surrounding them. "It s-s-s-seems that my sis-t-ter was right." He rubbed his hands up and down his biceps in a convulsive gesture, trying to warm his numbed arms.

"Huh?" Mato glanced down at the boy, his face changing into his octopus-walking-down-the-street look. "What the hell's wrong wi- Oh right, the aura. Oops." Dispelling the fridgid air with half a thought, he tilted his head back slightly and smiled. "And a-one, a-two, a-th-"

Another fireball lanced towards them, coming from directly behind this time.

Kevin had the luxury of gawking at the ball of flame as it sizzled underneith them.

"Heh, back attacks are so damn predictable, same damn thing, over and over." Landing lightly on the balls of his feet with poor Kevin slung over his shoulder, he flashed a quick grin in the direction of his attacker. "So, strike two, gonna go for three and give me a good reason to knock you on your ass?"

"Nay." A figure stepped out of a mass of shadows that shouldn't have been there, there was nothing to cast them in the empty werehouse. It was a teenaged girl with short cut brown hair, clad in robes of a different shade of brown. She looked like something out of a fantasy novel, were it not for her baggy bluejeans and a green t-shirt that had 'WTF?' printed on it's front in bold black lettering. "I would not attack thee again, knowing now who thou art." Kneeling, the mystery girl bowed her head. "I hight be Erika, sorceress of the Devonshire clan, my lady."

"Eerrr..."

The girl, Erika, tilted her head to the side, confusion spreading across her face. "Art thou not the goddess my mother spoke of? The goddess of the past, eldest of the Norn sisters?"

"Ooooohhhhh... Thaaaat. Nope." Grinning widely, he dumped the goggling Kevin onto his butt and hitched his thumbs on his pockets.

"But, thou carry the aura of thine-"

"Oh shut up Erika! Allways trying to sound so smart, using that stupid olde english." Kevin hauled himself to his feet and glowered at the girl.

"Stuff it like you stuff your shorts! Mom is so going to kill you for sneaking out while you're grounded!" Erika returned the glare, grinding her teeth.

"The only thing that gets stuffed is your bra!"

"Snot goblin!"

"Mucus ooze!"

"Booger bat!"

"Harpy!"

"That's it! You're a dead man now! Fireb-"

"Ahem, would you mind _not_ flinging explosions in my general direction?" Tapping his foot, Mato stood behind Kevin, arms folded across his chest, wearing a vaguely irritated look.

Blushing slightly, Erika dropped to one knee and bowed her head. "Forgive me my lady, 'twill not happen again."

"_Must_ you keep calling me that? Do I look like a chick to you?"

"Hah hah, screwed up again I see, you'd better get some glasses granny, if you think he looks like a goddess." Grinning nastily, Kevin swept his arm back in what was supposed to be a grand gesture, but instead ended up smacking Mato in the stomach with his elbow. "This is most likely a chosen of the goddess."

Staning up with a "Hmpff!" Erika pointed her finger at Kevin's chest. "You, _dear brother_, are wrong again, as usual. My divinations have revealed to me that this figure before us is an avatar, a being created by the goddess herself, bearing a portion of her devine powers."

Mato looked as if he had taken a baseball bat to the gut for a moment. "Guuhhh..." Clearing his throat awkwardly, he shook his head and stepped back from the pair. "Errr, maybe now's a good time for me to go."

"No!"

"Wait!"

Stumbling back as the pair turned towards him, Mato tripped over something, flailed his arms wildly to catch his balance, failed, and tipped over, landing on his backside. "Ow..." Sitting up, one of his hands closed over something oddly shaped. Curious, he picked it up and held it close to his face. "Hunh... One of those charm bracelet thingys... But wh- Oh shoot." Bright light flared between his fingers, lighting up the dim warehouse with blinding intensity. "OW! Eyes! Hurt!"

Both Kevin and Erika threw their arms up, sheilding their faces from the sudden blast of white light.

"Ow, serious ow... Anybody got any visine?" Blinking and rubbing his eyes, Mato slowly stood up, shaking his head. His eyeballs felt like they were on fire, but the pain only lasted a few seconds. "Ok, when I figure out who did that, I'll-"

"You'll what?" The voice was familiar, but different at the same time, and it was coming from close by. Very close by.

"...Urd?" Rubbing his eyes one last time, a blurry blot of grey quickly hazed into a clear view of a beautiful woman with a long mane of white hair and copper colored skin. A trio of blue marks adorned her face.

She was Urd, goddess of the past, eldest of the norn sisters, and she was smiling. She was also...

"Completely naked." Grinning like the asshole he claimed to be, he folded his hands behind his head and stared at Urd.

"Erk!" Flushing a dark shade of red, Urd hunched over, attempting to cover herself. "This wasn't supposed to happen!"

"Well, you don't hear me complaining, that's for sure." He was still standing there, grinning like an idiot.

Growling under her breath, Urd flung her hand out at Mato, covering her chest with the other. "Lightning!"

Mato's eyes doubled in size just before the four foot wide bolt of electricity hit him in the chest. "Crap."

Ugh, I had a mild bit of writer's black on this one, plus I had to head out of town for my cousin's wedding, congrats for her, not that she'll ever read this.

SushiiSquirrel - Useless X-men, a plot, and a cup of tea? What more do you need? Mayhaps more of Noir, but I'm doing the best I can. Maybe if more people sent in reviews, I could write better.

Hint hint.

Moonjava - Thanks again, ask for more, get more. It's that simple folks.

mikai - Hey hey hey, language. As you can see, I did get the next chapter out, but not as soon as I liked. I'm sure everybody else is just as eager as you are to see what comes next. I hope.

The chapter title is a little joke of mine, some of you may have heard it before. Heck, I'm not even sure where I heard it from, it's been that long. It was either that, or "Koi da! PANIKKU!" An inside joke of sorts, that'll give those of you who get it a vague hint of... Something.

But boy oh boy, you've gotta wonder what Noir and Mato's respective worlds are like if they take all the chaos in stride like they do.

A world where trees explode for no reason, where there are games where people throw ducks at balloons and nothing's the way it seems.

Then again, maybe we'll pretend I never said that, and get on with our lives?

I kinda like the idea of a teenaged magic user wearing a 'WTF?' t-shirt, maybe it's just me, but I find it funny. Needless to say, I think Erika is one of my favorite characters, for now... She's coming off as a bossy sister type, but maybe she has a reason for it? I was planning on punking her out a little, but I gave her a bit of inner geek, hence the t-shirt, so the most punk she may get will probably be a wallet chain.

Does anybody else find those things as tacky as I do?

Obviously, Erika's role model is Lina Inverse. If you get that, you'll see a lot of jokes coming then. Casting a fireball at your own brother may sound mean, but remember, he probably cast ghoul touch on her entire underear drawer at least once in the past year. Probably because she cast invisibility on his gym clothes. Probably because he cast chill touch on her suntan lotion. Probably because she cast shocking grasp on his jockstrap.

My, you can bet their mother grounds them a lot.


	14. Chapter Thirteen

Mild warning to all readers, this chapter has a bit of angst in it. Medium warning to all my fans, this chapter will give you a headache if you're all tracking the plot on a character by character bassis. Confusion abounds!

Mistaken Identity

Chapter thirteen

I'm anything but ordinary.

"Hehehehehehe.." Leaning back to avoid a swing aimed at his face, Mato Hibiki giggled drunkenly as he shufle-stepped to the side and leaned away from another blow. "Heheheheeee." Side stepping a baseball bat aimed at his face, he swayed dangerously far to one side on a single foot, narrowly avoiding a backswing. "Heeehehehehe."

"Will you please stop that tittering? You sound like a ten year old." Growling in frustration, Kevin Devonshire resumed his assault, franticly swinging the baseball bat he had conjured as Mato began staggering in his direction. "H-hey! Back up!"

"Wassa matta? Can't handle yourself so well?" Grinning, Mato made a staggering side step around another wild swing and swatted the bat out of Kevin's hands. "Psshhh... We're done..." Awkwardly waving his hand, he stumbled across the lush, long cut grass of the Devonshire clan's backyard, flopping over on his back and letting out a heavy sigh.

Erika sat on one of several wooden chairs scattered about the deck, resting her elbow on a spot on the glass topped table that wasn't cluttered with vials and jars. "You think he's ok?" Today, she had her chestnut hair tucked into green bucket hat with a little yellow yawning sun on the side, and was wearing a black t-shirt and matching jogging pants. She had been watching her brother play 'knight errant' for the past ten minutes, which had amused her greatly, but the pile of empty beer cans was beginning to worry her. "What did you two talk about last night that made him so upset?" She didn't even think about adding 'm'lady' anymore, it turned out that Urd just wasn't that kind of goddess. "I've never seen anyone drink so much so fast."

"He'll be fine." Urd didn't even bother to look up from her work. Several dozen half mixed potions were scattered before her, some beltching noxious fumes every few seconds. Some small amount of her powers had been restored to her, along with her new body, thanks to the magical charm Mato had stumbled over the night before. It had been one of her 'dominos' she had set up. Sadly, nothing sort of regaining her actual body, which was in Skuld's possession, would allow her access to her full powers.

"Some minion you are, if I had a follower as lazy as you are I'd- Are you listening to me? You'd better not have fallen asleep on me!" Stomping over next to Mato's prone form, Kevin began poking him in the shoulder with his baseball bat. "Wake up! W-"

Suddenly, Mato sat up, turning his head to look around, wide-eyed. "Beh, what was..." He stood up, pausing only to brush a few bits of grass from his clothes. "Oh... It figures..." Frowning, he took two running steps and lept over the backyard's fence, running past a startled family and into the street.

"Ok, when did he suddenly become an elf?" Kevin jerked a thumb, pointing over his shoulder the way Mato had ran. "Sis? Um, Lady Urd?" Kevin's tune had changed quite a bit over the night. Having a goddess recruit you to save the world, provided you shaped up, had an effect on a person. The promise of a few spellbooks had an even better effect.That, and his sister had threatened to rat him out to mom when their parents got home.

"An elf? What geek source are you quoting now?" Erika closed her eyes, rather unworried that someone, particularly a nobody lacky, had run off suddenly. Inwardly she smiled, she loved teasing her brother about his hobbys. He made it so easy too.

Kevin clentched his hands into fists. "It's the Lord of the Rings! God! Where have you been for the past five years? In a cave?" Just because he owned the trillogy, and the extended trillogy, and the VHS trillogy, and a few posters, and a replica of the one ring that he kept in a glass case on his dresser, it didn't mean he was a fanboy.

Waving a hand dismissively, Erika opened an eye slightly, watching Urd covertly. "Who cares if the idiot ran off, it's not like he's useful." Ever since she had found out that Mato was simply a carrier of Urd's essence, Erika's opinion of him had dropped. She was sure that the goddess had only used him out of convience. Had she been able to, she was positive that Urd would have picked a much more suitable host body.

Kevin fumed silently, trying to think of a witty retort to burn his sister's ego with. Giving up after a short bout wracking his brains, he settled for swinging his baseball bat about, getting a feel for the weight in his hands. He would rather have used his sword, it had been enchanted to make it's holder praticly a swordsmaster. Urd had delegated the descision to Mato, claiming that he was some sort of martial arts master. "Hmph." In Kevin's opinion, he was pretty skilled, but there was no way he was a master of anything. That skill had to have come from Urd's essence being in a mortal's body, some devine effect of sorts.

Erika continued to secretly watch Urd, her train of thought mirroring her brother's, for a short time. She admired the goddess, her looks, her brains, her powers. Sure, she had little power at the moment, but when she got her body back...

Indulging in a brief fantasy, Erika imagined herself standing at Urd's side in Valhalla, being publicly rewarded for single-handedly returning Urd to her rightful body, and slaying a coven of witches on the side, who had been disguising themselves as cheerleaders at her highschool. Smiling dreamily, she also pictured her brother as regulated to scrubbing all the toilets in Valhalla.

With a toothbrush.

Something sailed overhead and slammed into the side of the house with a sharp crack. The magicly toughened window that overlooked the backyard shimmered for a moment, the impact had rattled it slightly in it's frame. A body slid to the ground and lay there on the patio, stunned.

Both mortals and goddess stared at the body in shocked silence.

Shaking his head, Mato Hibiki stood up and began rolling up his left sleeve as he walked across the white washed patio. He muttered, "Rock golem." as he passed Erika and Urd. Nodding to Kevin as he passed the boy, he snatched his baseball bat away.

"You're going to fight a rock golem with a baseball bat?" Kevin stood where he was, watching Mato's back as he walked across the yard, back the way he had flown from.

"No, I'm going to make it regret smackin' me in the face like that." Shouldering the bat, he half turned back to grin at the trio. "Then I'm gonna smack the crap out of it."

-

Today hadn't started out too well, that was a given. Twisting around in mid air, Noir was barely able to break his fall as he slammed into the ground back first. The impact tore up the sod of the mansion grounds for a few yards as he went into a full, face down sprawl. "Ugh... Note to self, stop doing anything." Crawling to his feet despite his own excellent advice, Noir wraped one arm around his aching ribs, and stared at the figures walking towards him.

Dozens of machines roughly eight feet tall, styled similarly to the massive Sentinels that had attacked the mansion half an hour ago, only these ones seemed to be built a little better.

"Looks like Skuld has improved on the design allready, lucky me." Gritting his teeth, Noir forced his body to move. It was hard, very, very hard, he didn't have much left. Darting towards the first unlucky machine, he slammed his fist into it's chest, twisting his hips as he struck to add extra force to the blow, sending the robot flying into the cluster of it's brethren behind it and plowing another furrow into the battle-torn mansion grounds.

He had no idea where the X-men had wound up. Shortly after they had arrived in the sky, their neat little plane had been torn open by several very bright lasers, and before he had a chance to go rescue them, these new toys of Skuld's had shown up.

A metallic fist caught him just under his left arm, sending him into the air for a few seconds before hitting the turf again. Groaning, Noir climbed to his feet yet again, and glared at the offending machine. Well, he _tried_ to at least. "You- ungh... Gimmie a sec..." His vision swam in a blurry haze of black, green, brown and various ugly shades of purple. "Which one of you hit me?" He stumbled back on shaky legs, clutching his side, and dearly hoping that the sticky fluid on his fingers was simply hydraulic fluid.

-

"Aw, heh, you're a cute lttle fella." Smiling, Mato Hibiki flopped over onto his side and ticked the whiskers of the small sea otter next to him. The otter chittered something and nuzzled his hand, then darted under the water, gliding easily though the aquarium.

Kevin and Erika Devonshire gaped, along with the rest of their tenth grade biology class, trying hard to comprehend what they were seeing.

Popping up on the surface again, the otter clambered up onto Mato's chest, ticking the strange fellow's cheek with his nose. Laughing, Mato sat up and hugged the small mammal to his chest, turning to wave at the various people clustered around the sea otter exibit. Even the aquarium staff stood transfixed, they sometimes had a problem with people climbing into exibits to play with the animals, but this was a little bit different from the norm.

It wasn't often that someone sat _on_ the water while playing with one of the animals.

-

Spiderman let out a grunt of surprised pain as he crashed through the building's window and landed in a heap on the floor. Jumping to his feet, he could see Doc Ock grabbing onto May Parker across the building. Glancing at either side of the window frame, he fired a pair of weblines and began backing up, streching the webbing as far as he could.

Pausing for a moment, he stared at the two figures, his jaw set. He had lost someone before, because he hadn't acted when he should have.

Never again.

Releasing his hold on the floor, he jerked his arms back as hard as he could, catapaulting through the window.

-

Agony, dull thumping, pounding. Preassure. Pain pain pain. Like an icepick trying to dig it's way out of my eye, stabbing. A vise squeezing down on my temples, crushing. Feverish heat runs through flesh and bone. Blood boils, muscles tremble. Dry, hot steam billows out, lungs ever emptying, never filling.

Death would be a sweet, sweet promise, never kept, ever offered.

Release.

Why why why? Torment, ever the taunting, goading, mocking. My values, my choices, my words, my actions.

Thoughts, dreams, secret, safe. Never share them, never reveal them. Locked inside, sealed away beneith the false me, the storm buried beneith. A core of ice shrouded in still and warm waters. Laughter, warm and easy, so cheerful, so carefree.

A lie.

Joy is my shroud, hiding me deep within it's shadows, like the shade of a tropical palm on a hot day. Carefree expression, so easy to slip on and wear, like silk gloves, so inviting like sweet, fresh cream.

I hide, I lie, to everyone, those I love, those I hate.

Why?

A mask, more solid than iron, locks, so many, weighing me down, a cage, a prison, of my own device. I made them, so lovingly, with such care. I crafted, with reckless abandon, haphazardly.

My mask, my shield, my guillotine. My disguise, my prison, my noose.

My fate.

I made it.

Made them all.

-

"He's mine!" Doc Ock stood just inside of the railcar, glaring at the passengers though his sunglasses. He needed the wall crawler, his payment to Osborn for the precious Tritium.

One of the passengers, a heavyset man, gulped, and stepped between the two meta-humans. "If you want him, you have to go through me."

"And me." A second person added.

"Me too." One by one, the entire crowd moved to stand between Spiderman and Otto, ready and willing to shield his body with theirs if need be.

Octavious smiled, a little touched at the display, only a little though. He nodded in understanding. "Very well." Squaring his shoulders, he directed a pair of tentacles through the crowd, then apart, splitting the people to either side of the railcar.

Several of the passengers held onto Spiderman, determaned to protect him any way they could.

He couldn't let them. Straightening up as best his battered body would allow, he nodded to the people holding him, and took a shaky step forwards. His spidersense blared an alarm, and a metallic claw filled his vision. There was nothing he could do, despite the warning, he was too weary to do more than stand, let alone perform complex acrobatics.

_Chunk!_

He felt nothing, despite the sound of metal striking flesh, not the impact, nor the ground that would break his fall. He heard something though. A voice.

"Aw c'mon, you're gonna pick on the little guy?"

Opening his eyes, Peter stared at the blurry object infront of him. He blinked, and the world sharpened. Yellow and black and shades of grey. He blinked again, and could make out shapes, someone was standing between him and Doc Ock.

"What, no snappy villan dialogue? Ah screw it, you're mine wackjob." Twisting around, the tauntingly familiar figure bent the metal tentacle into a U shape, hopping up to set his legs into the bend, and catapaulted himself into Doc Ock. The impact shook the damaged railcar and sent them both tumbling outside, where gravity quickly dug it's claws into them.

"I _hate_ machines!"

-

Jubilee crawled under the torn frame of the X-jet, groping blindly with one gloved hand when she could go no farther. Her fingers closed around cloth and flesh and she pulled, hauling Jean Grey's body from under the wreckage. Biting her lip at the sight of Jean's bruised face, she felt for a pulse, feeling like a fist had closed around her heart. A faint quiver, a pulse of lifeblood stirring in warm veins. Jean was alive.

Letting out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding, she gingerly pulled Jean along as she scrambled backwards out of the plane.

Somewhere, off in the distance, someone, or something let out an animal howl, and Jubilee froze, wide eyes darting around for the source of the noise. Leaving Jean where she lay for the moment, Jubilee scrambled over rubble, heading for the remains of the X-jet's cockpit. Sinking into relative safety, she peeked out, feeling the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.

There, out on the battle worn mansion grounds, someone was tearing up the mini-Sentinels with their bare hands. Moonlight glinted off of flying fragments of metal as the figure tore into another machine, sending a spray of dark fluid into the air.

Howling, the figure turned, hunching over to glare at the remaining mini-Sentinels like a predatory beast guaring it's lair. One made the mistake of stepping closer. Sharp claws raked the earth, leaving a quartet of furrows in the soil, and in the machine's face. Growling, the thing turned, twisting to avoid a metallic fist as it swung. Jubilee winced as she heard the blow land on the back of the thing's head with an audible thud.

The cloth mask tore as the figure turned, and long silver hair spilled out, trailing down to it's waist, dispelling Jubilee's fragile hope that it was Wolverine.

Turning, the figure pounced on the offending machine and raked into it's chest with razor-like talons. Hydraulic fluid gushed into the air and the beast was allready on another mini-Sentinel, driving it to the earth, clawing away in a blood-lust fury. The remaining mini-Sentinels closed in as their brethren were cut down, surrounding their target. Snarling with a horrible menace, the beast lashed out, swiping at the machines and hitting nothing but air.

For a moment, they stood still, as if surprised by the all-consuming rage the thing possessed. A heartbeat later they were falling to pieces, as if the very air had turned to razor sharp ribbons and blew through them.

Half rising from it's haunches, the man-beast turned to look at the moon, and all was quiet.

Trembling, Jubilee tried to move, and found herself frozen, hands gripping white-knuckle tight on the battered frame of the X-jet.

Whatever it was, it seemed to be basking in the moonlight.

-

Sigh, personal poblems are a part of life, ne? Ah well, I recently had my birthday, so I'm another year old, and all that crap. Moving on, reviews.

Moonjava - Glad you liked it.

SushiiSquirrel - Mmmmm, Star Wars... Good for the soul... Annie's a whiner though, give me Vader any day. We all fall victim to writer's block sooner or later. Hope you're enjoying your summer vacation.

mikai - Mmmmm, character development...

RiggerMantis - Glad to know you like it. And I'm pretty sure that you're the first one to mention the possible connection, good catch there. There's a few more hints of a Nerima connection, but you'll have to keep a sharp eye to catch them all.

Hey, there's an idea, new contest. Who can find the most references to Japan's famous, or, infamous, Nerima district? Apply by e-mail, or in reviews, no purchase nessairy. Any reference at all is fine, be it a person, place or thing. Anything that did happen or was used in any relevant way, so no saying that a muffin was eaten there, and Ben ate a muffin back in the attack of the lizard bots.


	15. Chapter Fourteen

Long delay, not much to say right now.

-

Mistaken Identity

Chapter Fourteen

And I don't want the world to see me, cuz' I don't think that they'd understand...

The wind ripped at Otto's trenchcoat, and hissed in his ears as he and the suicidal fool who had tackled him out of the railcar fell together. It wasn't very far to the ground, but if he didn't act quickly, it could still be the end, and he had much to do before that happened. Half willing a metallic tentacle to lash out, it bit into the concrete support of the railway above, arresting his fall.

"You think it's over that easy?" Twisting around, the yellow clad fool who lacked the advantage of technology, glared up at him. Otto didn't even bother to taunt the man as he dropped. It was beneath him.

"Hey! Pay attention to me when I kick your ass!" Dragging his bare fingers across the concrete pillar, he flexed his arm, somehow launching himself back upwards, slamming his body into the tentacle supporting Otto's weight.

_Impossible._

"Oh yeah, _now_ you pay attention." Growling under his breath, Mato Hibiki wrapped a hand around a mechanical tentacle and yanked down hard, not only pulling the former scientist turned madman back down towards him, but also angling his body to kick away the two other robotic arms as they flung themselves at him. The fourth was making a desperate grab for the pillar, crushing cement and structural support steel in a failing attempt to counter the monstrous pull of the young man's single arm.

"Seriously, you're an irritating little cuss, and I think your mother dresses you funny." Head pointing towards the ground, Mato wrapped his ankles around the first metal appendage as it made a final attempt to strike him. "And you can't fight worth a damn, there I said it." Jack-knifing his body in half, he wrenched Otto earthwards again, shoving both hands against the crumbling pillar to drive himself down after the falling villain.

Again, the tentacles made a grab for the column, achieving a tenuous hold that lasted until Mato bodily slammed into Otto once more, sending them down, and then swinging out across the street. "Nothing to say in your defense? Thought not." Powdered man-made stone littered the street below, as the clamps tore free from their fragile hold, sending the two flying into the side of a building.

Of course, three quarters of Otto's new body weight was hard, powerdriven metal, so naturally, when the flailing tentacles followed the bodies, they made quite a mess.

Steel, drywall, cubicle walls and fiberboard went flying everywhere, and somewhere along the way, several water and heating pipes were shredded. The sudden rush of water blew out power for half the building, driving the few remaining occupants of the office building into darkness.

Groaning, Otto hauled himself upright, the power arms doing most of the work. Coughing at all the dust from various sources, he glanced around as one of the tentacles retrieved his broken sunglasses form the floor and tucked them into his pocket.

"Oh you sonofabitch!" A shadowy form launched out of the darkness, and slammed into a barrier of hastily erected metal. Clawing savagely, a short, slender figure slurred curses at the scientist as he stared in stunned silence.

"You're a woman?" It was true, the person trying so hard to claw his eyeballs out was a young girl roughly five feet tall, with bright red hair bound back in a braid, water dripping from her soggy clothes and bangs. More a girl than a woman.

"I goddamn well am now!" Cocking back an arm, the girl slammed her fist into the two tentacles blocking her way, the force travelling back into the harness attaching them to Otto, sending the whole set back towards the hole torn in the side of the building.

Cracking her knuckles, the petite girl slowly advanced, a very nasty expression on her face. "If you thought I was kickin' your ass before jackass, then I'm about to rock your world."

Otto slowly sat up, staring open mouthed in shock. The speech patterns were exactly the same as the boy who had knocked him out of the railcar. The brute strength matched too.

A look of disgust washed over the girls face. "Get your mind out of the gutter, you pervert!" Darting forwards, she cocked back an arm again.

She was Mato Hibiki, and she was _really_ pissed off.

-

Erica stared at Urd, as if she had told her something incomprehensible.

Something akin to telling her that Kevin wasn't a dork, with a straight face.

"Turns into a girl?" Erika and Urd were still sitting on the back deck, the latter mixing various potions, the former acting as if she were attempting to catch flies with her mouth.

Kevin was prancing about the yard, swinging to and fro with his baseball bat.

"Mmhmm, he fell in one of the cursed springs of Jusenkyo, in china." Urd paused for a moment, setting down a crystal vial of something colored a vile brown, and tilted her head back. "Of course, the Jusenkyo springs don't exist in this reality." The blue markings on her face shimmered briefly as Urd used her powers to flicker her mind back through the history of this world. "And, for that matter, several key families don't either." Frowning, Urd resumed her work. With her powers so limited, she needed every advantage she could get, make, concoct, wrangle, cajole, force, or buy, if it came down to it.

Erica sat there in silence, part of her mind muddling over the people Urd was referring to, after all, didn't she have the Devonshire clan to rely on?

"Key families? Like who?" Kevin slumped into a chair across from Urd, panting hard from all his 'training'.

Smiling slightly, the Norn sister of the past pushed a glass of water closer to the boy. "Families that could make this fight much easier to win."

Grabbing the glass with a tired smile, Kevin chugged the contents down, coughed a few times, and pounded on his chest. "Wr-wrong pipe." Coughing a bit more, he let out a sigh, and closed his eyes. "Let me guess, you're hoping to recover some of your power, so you ca-"

"So you can travel back in time, and bring some of our relatives back to help us?" Erica smirked at her brother, ignoring the pissed off glare he was giving her. It was only natural, he shouldn't be surprised, after all, wasn't she the one who Urd-

"Nope." Urd was refilling Kevin's glass from a crystal pitcher, favoring him with a kind smile. "Drink it slowly this time." Watching him blush and try not to stare at her was an interesting diversion, but after a moment, Urd let out a sigh. "This world lacks a few basic elements that my dimension takes for granted."

Snapping her fingers, a whiteboard suddenly appeared over Urd's shoulder. "For example." Tapping a pointer, which had appeared in her hand from out of nowhere, against a small picture of japan, the goddess continued speaking. "The elements I refer to aren't even in America, rather, they exist in Japan." Tapping a small doodle of a dojo, the imaged twisted and flexed, growing three times it's size. "And furthermore, even if this one element did exist, this dimension lacks the proper balances to make it worth involving." Tiny figures moved about the dojo, one of which, colored black and red, was launched over the roof of the dojo by a smaller figure in blue holding something small and black with a dash of yellow, and vanished.

"Oh, like um... A symbiotic circle, right?" Kevin blinked at the shocked expression his sister was giving him. "Hey, I do pay attention in biology sometimes." Kevin hunched his shoulders a bit as Erica's expression turned frosty. After a few seconds more, he withered completely. "Ok, ok, I got it from Star Wars..."

Rolling here eyes, Urd cleared her throat to re-capture their attention. "You're right. But, while this element here is the main catalyst, there are a few more." In succession, Urd tapped the pointer on an old well, a small shrine at the top of a long set of stairs, and a cemetery on top of a small hill. "Not only would the people who reside at these places help by participating in our fight, they would also strengthen each other." Snapping her fingers again, several weapons appeared above the tiny locations, small arrows were drawn to show the various connections. "Not only are the people themselves strong, but the various weapons they carry are as unique as they are."

"Let's see..." Standing up, Kevin walked over to examine the tiny writing beneath the drawings on the whiteboard. "The Bone-eater's well. The Masaki shrine. Monument hill." Scratching his head, the boy turned to the goddess. "I've never heard of these places before, how important are they?"

"More important than you could imagine." Urd banished the pointer with a twitch of her fingers and returned her attention to the potions she was brewing.

"Ok, if you say so. What about these weapons?" Kevin tapped one of them a few times. "A beaten up old katana is going to help us?"

Letting out a tired sigh, Urd channeled a bit of magical energy into a fingertip and touched the image of the sword. "This 'beaten up old katana'..." Yellow flame tinged the edges of the sword, and the drawing came alive. "Is made out of the fang of a powerful demon lord." The katana elongated, formed a broader curve, and grew what looked like a shaggy pelt around the sword guard. "And is so sharp, that it can cut the wind itself-" The sword whirled around on the whiteboard, a tiny figure in red whipped the blade up, and brought it crashing down into the ground, spewing forth a half dozen broad streams of light that tore the earth asunder. Since it was all rendered in dry erase marker, this impressive scene had a sort of cartoony feel to it. "And tear a foe to ribbons."

"Woah..." Kevin was impressed, not only with the information, but the skill that Urd manipulated a fixed image with. That degree of control was quite out of his league at the moment. He shuddered to think what she could do with her full pool of magical power to rely on. "A-and the rest?"

"Harusame, the blade forged for an infamous samurai..."

-

There was darkness.

An endless, all consuming, inky void that dimmed all vision.

But even the shroud of this place could not hide everything from the eye that could see beyond. The mind's eye.

A figure stood, tall and defiant, all sharp lines despite the haze that outlined and blurred it's features.

"We shouldn't be fighting like this... She wouldn't want it this way."

_Who? Who wouldn't want this? Who are you?_

Another figure, equally tall, all curves and soft edges, as if deliberately opposing the other, equally as blurred.

"You only say that because you know I am the stronger, I always was. I was the first, the chosen one. You, _dear brother_, were always doomed to stand in my shadow, then, now and forever. What you do here is useless."

_That sounds so cold, so empty._

"Your words are as clouded as your vision, sister."

_So sad. Why? What is going on?_

"Ah, my dear, dear brother. No insults? No pithy tricks? How far you have fallen, you're even weaker than before." A cold, harsh laugh. "Not that you ever were a challenge."

_Who are these people?_

"I'm not the one who has fallen. And, if defeating you is the only way to save you..." A flicker of light, warm, living flame that licked at the void, burning bits of it away. "Then I will fight you, and I will win."

_What are you?_

"Ah, my sweet, naive, little brother." Another flicker of light, cold and blue. It didn't effect the darkness at all. "How little you know, you should never face your better, especially not at the height of her power."

"You're not my better, **Jean**. And you're not **Jean** as strong as you **Jean** you are. If force is the only **Jean** I can save you, then **JEAN**!"

-

"Please, please wake up Jean." Jubilee hunched over Jean Grey as consciousness returned. The teenaged girl's worry worn face brightened a little.

"Jubi-"

"Shh... There's little Sentinel's crawling all over the mansion." A clatter from not too far off prompted Jubilee to drag Jean farther into the shadows cast by the twisted remains of the X-jet.

"Jubilee, what happened?" Reaching up to get a frail grip on the girl's collar, Jean weakly pulled Jubilee's face down closer to hers. "I can't remember anything after the X-jet was hit."

"That's because you crashed." Hunching over, Jubilee carefully, and painfully slowly, hauled a torn sheet of metal over the opening in the airframe she had hauled Jean through. "By the time I got here, there were baby Sentinel's all over the mansion grounds. You were the only one I could find, and..." Lowering her voice to a whisper, Jubilee cast a furtive glance around her hidey-hole. "There's some sort of monster outside, fighting them."

Wincing at the grating sound of dragging metal, like having a chisel ground down over her skull, Jean shook her head, slowly. "There's no such thing as monsters, Jubilee, it-"

"Then what's _that?_" Letting the last of her words end in a muffled squeak, Jubilee pointed at the perforated impromptu wall. A shadowy figure had flashed past, then doubled back, tearing, literally, through the mini-Sentinels chasing it.

A spray of hydraulic fluid splashed over it's body, giving it an oily appearance, as if it were made from the shadows in sank into. A pair of baleful, yellow slitted eyes, seemed to bore deep into her soul, chilling Jean to the bone.

-

"Well, well, well... I'm impressed at how hard they're working to stop me." Smeared with grease, Skuld wiped her hands off on her stained coverall. "But, it's starting to look like they might get in my way." Smiling, the young goddess closed a panel on a thirty foot, bipedal machine. "Hum, it's finished, but it doesn't look quite right. It needs... Color."

Humming cheerfully to herself, Skuld picked up a bucket of paint next to her, and splashed it over the lifeless metal shell. Small rivers of purple paint streamed over the armored foot plate, and spread across the floor. "No, that doesn't look right. But it is the trademark color." Frowning, Skuld continued to dump paint over the machine, ignoring how it was pouring over her legs and soaking her boots.

"Why won't it look right? It's perfect!" Stomping her foot, the ever increasingly frustrated goddess flung the paintcan against the leg of her machine, sending a fine spray of purple over herself and the already covered floor. "What more does it need!" Clapping her hands together, Skuld smiled merrily, skipping away from the machine and out of the pool of paint, leaving purple bootprints trailing in her wake.

Moving over to a computer, she tapped a few keys, ignoring the blotches of purple she left on the keyboard. "Of course, I know just the thing." Giggling, she tapped the print key. "I was using the wrong color, red is so much better now."

The printer buzzed for a moment, then spooled out a long stream of images. Grabbing the first sheet and tearing it off, Skuld tromped over the dozens of connected sheets the printer was spewing out, leaving behind a trailing tangle of ruined paper covered with muddy purple.

"It needs red!" Spinning around, Skuld carelessly shoved the monitor off of the table. Glass cracked, and the plastic casing shattered, spewing shrapnel and sparks across the floor. "But not just any red, oh no!" Flinging her hands into the air, she laughed. A single piece of paper went spinning into the air, as the young goddess wrapped her arms about herself, her body convulsing with uncontrollable mirth.

"It must be a divine shade of red." The airborne piece of paper slowly pinwheeled to the earth, landing next to the ruined monitor. A particularly violent burst of sparks reduced the image of Urd's face to a twisted, charred, ruin.

-

Ugh, I'd like to say sorry to everyone who was waiting for this chapter. I've had a lot to do, new carpet, renovating the downstairs, making it into a proper kitchenette, painting starts in the morning.

For all of you calling me lazy, it's currently two in the morning as I put the finishing touches on this chapter. Those of you who don't care that I'm pissing away valuable sleeping time on this.

You can be battered away by a hail of wet sponges! Mwahahahaha! ...Ahem...

Sorry. Heh.

Mikai - Hey, it's a skill I've developed over the years. Not everyone can so constructively confuse people like I do y'know.

SushiiSquirrel - My best chapter yet? WOO! Go me! I'm so great, and humble too! See how humble I am? XD I am amazed that you said it cleared up some confusion, I'd love to know what in particular. And you're not allowed to confuse the confuser in return. Yes, all hail lord Vader, and James Earl Jones too. I'm sorry to hear about your knee, I know how an injury can get you down. I used to play soccer myself when I was younger, but I was too lazy to get up in the morning to go running around. XD Now I'm a construction worker, I get up even earlier, to work harder, for longer. I guess the joke is on me. And I do look over my chapters before I post them, I just read too damn fast to catch typo's, hopefully, I've slowed down enough to catch them all this time. Feel free to point out any you catch though. Last point...

Phew... For those of you who're catching on to my style of hinting at things, I'll have a few more characters piling on in the next couple of chapters. A cookie for every correct guess on each new character coming on! No mass guesses, like saying 'the entire Justice League' for example. It'd really be nice if I got a few guesses. I'd also like to know which characters you'd prefer to be focused on more. I can think of two who're on an extended coffee break.

To show how much hope my fragile heart has, I'll even give you a format. Here comes the EXAMPLE!

Series: Ah! Megami-sama/Oh! My Goddess. Character: Urd, eldest Norn sister. Reason why: Because if I didn't have her in, she would've killed me! x.x;

For multiple characters from the same series, just cluster them together, hay? Great, anyways...

Bleah, I had planned on being a bit farther on in the... Ahem, mumble mumble... By this chapter, but oh well.

Now for my own little section of the outro and stuff... Why hasn't anyone speculated on what's gonna happen next? Oh, I get it, you all think I'll change everything if you get it right, don't you? Bah!

It's now twenty after two now... Ugh, feel flattered that I'm spending time on doing this properly, instead of giving off a bare bones chapter. And all who complain about the length of the story, is it long enough for you now?


	16. Chapter Fifteen

Ahhh, finally, it's time to start another chapter. I can honestly say that I missed getting down to writing like this. Aaaannnnd, gah, I have no idea where I was. Ah screw it, like that ever mattered, right?

I don't own Santa Monica, that belongs to Theory of a dead man, which I also don't own.

'Cuz, dammit, if I owned a band, I'd have a better collection of music.

-

Mistaken Identity

Chapter Fifteen

If I'm alive and well, will you be there, holdin' my hand?

Ed lifted his coffee cup to his lips and took a long slurp. "Dull day today." Another slurp. "I wish something interesting would happen." Turning to look at the office door as it swung open, he dropped his cup.

"Be careful what you say!" A redheaded girl in dripping clothes dashed past Ed, shoving him out of the way as she crossed the office and dove through the window that made up a fourth of the room's wallspace.

Seconds later, as Ed began to think about standing up, a man in a trenchcoat crashed through the half closed door. Half a second later, the metal tentacles attached to his back crashed through the doorframe, and took a good chunk of wall with it. "Come back here!" Otto's face was covered in green and red dry erase marker, looking as if an eight year old had doodled on him while he was napping.

Dr. Octopus crashed through what was left of the window.

"..." After a few minutes, Ed stood up, walked to his desk, and sat down. Staring blankly into space for awhile, he pulled out a legal pad and a pen, and began writing. "It is with deep regret that I tender my resignation..."

-

"Um, Urd?" Kevin raised a hand to shield his eyes, and squinted slightly as he looked into the distance. The three had spent most of the day in the backyard, Kevin swinging around his baseball bat, Erika shooting him dirty looks and making scathing comments, and Urd answering questions while mixing potions.

"Yes Kevin?" Pouring something orange and burbling into a small vial, Urd carefully corked the little bottle and set it aside.

"If a thirty foot machine stomps on your house, what time is it?" Kevin began backing towards the back deck, his right hand in a white-knuckle tight grip on his baseball bat.

"Time to get a new house!" Erika quipped, smiling cheekily at her brother. "My turn; a dog, a priest, and a chipmunk walk into a bar-"

"If that's the case, the Brewsters are going to be pissed when they get home." Kevin tripped over the edge of the deck when his thighs connected with it, but he didn't halt his backward progress. Crabbing back on his plam, knuckles, and heels, he bumped into Urd's legs. Slowly tilting his head back, he was surprised to see such a relaxed expression on the goddess's face. "Um, it's not one of ours, is it?"

"Is what one of ours?" Erika stood up and walked over to stand beside Urd, lifting a hand to shade her eyes much like her brother had a moment ago. "I don't see-Eeeeeek." Paling, Erika let her arm fall limply to her side.

"No, that would be something coming to kill us."

-

Growling quietly, the yellow eyed creature began slinking towards Jubilee's hiding spot, covered with blood and hydraulic fluid, it gleamed faintly in the moonlight.

Metal squealed as it's claws tore into the sheet of aircraft frame that blocked the hole, ripping a trio of ragged lines that the thing stared in through.

Shivering, Jubilee pulled Jean closer, clinging to the older woman. Neither one of them were in any shape to fight this thing off, and in truth, neither would muster the will to do more than cringe under it's gaze.

Something let out a gutteral howl, and the thing lept away, metal shrieking as another set of claws bit deeply into the remains of the X-jet.

Yellow and blue flashed as the second figure wrenched it's claws free and rushed at the first again, howling in rage.

"Wol- Wolverine?" Jubilee slid away from Jean Grey, and crawled over to push open the make-shift barricade. Outside, Wolverine was attacking the fluid drenched figure, both moving rapidly, almost nothing more than a pair of blurs, one dark, and one light, to Jubilee's eyes.

Growling, the darker figure raked it's claws across the other's chest, howling in pain and rage as it received a trio of bloody slashes across it's own chest in return. Wolverine's claws were much longer than the other's, giving him a fairly good advantage.

Backing away to give himself a moment to catch his breath, Wolverine smirked, raising his claws to his face. "Looks like you bleed just like everything else, bub." The wounds on his chest had begun to heal, the bleeding slowing to a trickle. In a matter of moments, they would fade altogether, as if they had never been at all. "Jubes, get back and leave this thing to m-" He broke off as the figure rushed him again. Side-stepping the furious, two-handed attack, Wolverine jabbed his claws into it's side. "Guess I wi-" Wolverine broke off again as the thing turned and grabbed his wrists, growling in a low, and menacing tone.

Hauling on his arms, the beast raised Wolverine high over it's head, tearing the adamantium claws from it's side in the process. Flinging away the X-man as if he were an oversized doll, it pounced before Logan had even slid to a stop. Baring it's fangs in a snarl, the thing lifted it's arms, holding faintly gleaming claws above the man's face.

"NO!" Jubilee had been unable to move, frozen in horror at what she was witnessing.

Drawn by the noise, a mini-Sentinel charged the pair of meta-humans. Badly damaged, one of the machine's arms was dangling at it's side, useless. Still, it's eyes gleamed bright red, indicating it still had plenty of power, despite the fact that most of it's face had been torn away. Raising it's undamaged arm, it drove it's metallic fist into it's primary target, the figure crouching atop the prone X-man.

The machine's fist connected solidly with the sound of hard alloy striking soft flesh. Stunned, the beast's head rocked back on it's neck.

Then the beast snarled again.

Growling, the dark, amorphous figure turned it's head back to glare at the mini-Sentinel, causing the servos in it's arm to whine with strain. Suddenly freezing, the figure blinked it's yellow eyes several times, staring blankly at the disfigured machine before it.

-

Pushing open the door to his bedroom, a teenaged boy walked into his room, tossing his backpack next to his desk. "Another day wasted at school, another day older, I guess." Sighing, he walked over to his dresser, turned on his stereo, and set it to track number five.

The soft strains of Santa Monica filled the room as he flopped down on his bed, staring blankly up at the ceiling.

_She fills my bed with gasoline, you think I woulda noticed._

_Her mind's made up, the love is gone. _

_I think someones trying to show us a sign._

_That even if we thought it would last, the moment would pass._

_My bones will break, and my heart will give._

_Oh, it hurts to live._

"How true." Sighing, he flung an arm over his eyes as the chorus began. He often listened to depressing music, feeling it appropriate to have something accompany his mood and thoughts.

_And I remember the day, when you left-_

His door swung in, and a short, lithe girl with red hair strode into the room. "Oh, ugh, you're listening to that song _again?_"

Lifting his arm a little to peer at the girl, he sighed, and lowered it again, responding with a halfhearted groan.

Walking across the room, she turned around, and sat on the edge of his bed, smiling down at him. "Cheer up?"

His only reply was another groan, louder this time, as if he hoped that she would get the signal to leave him alone this time.

Letting out a disgusted noise, she crossed her arms over her chest. "Don't you have better things to do than mope about a made-up girl? Mom's been telling me that your grades have been-"

Shifting his body, trying to sink deeper into the mattress, he licked his lips. "My grades are fine."

"That's not what my mom's been telling me." Sighing, she leaned over, putting a hand down on the bed to support her weight as she leaned over him partway. "My parent's are getting worried, and uncle- your dad's starting to get worried too."

"Let 'em worry, it's human to feel something different once in awhile." He let out a deep sigh. "It's unhealthy to be that damn happy all the time."

"You're so weird, are you sure that we're related?" She leaned a little farther over.

"That's what our parents keep telling us." Peeking out from under his arm, he stared at her for a moment before nudging her arm out from under her with his knee.

"Eek!" Falling over on top of his legs, she was up in a flash, cheeks pinkening. "Jerk!"

Chuckling, he folded his hands behind his head. "Why are you so mad? You finally got me to smile, didn't you?"

"You're so dead for that." Still flushing, she made as if to pounce on him.

"Please." He turned to look at her. "Would you kill your own cousin?"

"Yes." She lept at the bed, an impish grin on her face.

"Figures." He tucked his legs and rolled away from her, landing on his hands and knees on the floor. "I have all the luck."

-

"What the hell was that?" Shaking his head, he brought a hand to his face, his head was a jumble of chaotic thoughts. The one that stuck out the most was the image of two children, one with dark hair, one with red. "Who was that? Ach, and what's that annoying noise?" Indeed, something was making a high pitched, whining sort of noise, as if a car or something was straining to move.

Blinking, the world came back into sharp focus. "Ack." Staring wide-eyed, his eyes locked onto a purple and red figure before him.

With it's fist firmly planted against his face.

"Rrrrrr, PISS OFF!" Cocking an arm back, he slammed his fist into it's torso, sinking his arm up to the elbow inside of it's frame. "Err, ok, I'm pretty sure that wasn't sup-"

A guttural, low-key roar cut him off, and the mini-Sentinel fell back, sparks spewing from a hextuplet of slashes in it's lower torso. Falling back, the machine wrenched free of his arm, and crashed to the ground.

Bounding over, Noir followed his reflexes, and slammed his fists into it's head, putting a sizable pair of dents into it's skull, putting the man-sized machine out of commission. "Ok, why can't I remember the last few minutes of my life?" Frowning, he ran his fingers over his face, assessing the status of his body.

Behind Noir, Jubilee was busy with both helping Wolverine up, and holding him back from killing the other teenaged superhero. "No Logan! He's on our side!"

"Coulda fooled me kiddo." Wolverine refrained from simply throwing the girl off of him and tearing into the other guy. For the moment, anyway.

"Face, fine, head... Atch, what the hell happened to my mask? Oh, right, that punch to the face." Chuckling in a self-depreciating sort of way, Noir continued to examine himself, running his hands down his chest. "Damn, where'd all those slashes go? And the hole in my sh- Fu-Gyyghh..." Clenching his teeth, Noir's hands rapidly clenched and unclenched, his entire body seized up, and his vision swam. He remained that way for several seconds before the odd spell passed, leaving him gasping.

He had never felt anything like that before in his entire life, and he had been through quite a bit. It wasn't pain, not quite, but it was close enough to leave him worried. Whirling around, he blinked at Jubilee apparently grappling with Wolverine. Shrugging, he walked over to them. "Ok, so, wha'd I miss?"

"Noir? That's actually you?" Jubilee slowly let go of Logan, satisfied that he wasn't going to thrash Noir, at least not right away.

"Duh." Shaking his head, he looked around, trying to ignore Jubilee's odd, gaping sort of stare. "Who the hell else would I be?"

"Some sort of fangy monster. You were howling and everything." Jubilee paused for a moment, unsure of how to bring up the question. Finally, she just blurted it out. "Where did you get all that hair from?"

"C'mon, I've _always_ had fa- WHAT?" Staring for several seconds at Jubilee, he shook his head to clear it. That was when he felt the added weight attached to the back of his head. "Aw man, I don't even remember making that happen." Reaching over his shoulder, Noir hauled a mass of blood and hydraulic stained hair back. "Dammit, this'll take forever to wash out..." Frowning, he took a moment to examine his fingertips, which were protruding from the torn and burned gloves covering his hands. "At least the claws are ok... Dammit, geez... Since when was I so damn fragile?"

Jubilee stared. Noir _literally_ looked like the walking dead, with all the burns, tears, bloodstains, and clawmarks covering his costume. If he called himself fragile after all of that, then he really was some sort of monster.

"Well, anyways, I feel fine for now." Noir let his hair slip from his fingers. "A bit hungry though." He rubbed his stomach, ignoring how torn up his costume was in that area for now. "Hey lady, you ok?" Noir waved at Jean Grey as she crawled free from the shattered hulk of the X-jet.

Wolverine was instantly at Jean's side, helping her stand up. "You ok Jeanie?"

Jean nodded, grateful for the aid, ignoring the deeper meaning behind the man's concern for the moment. "I'm fine logan. Where is everyone else?" Jean looked around, dismayed to only find Logan, Jubilee, and Noir standing there besides herself.

"Don't know. Most of us were split up fightin' those machines." Wolverine looked around for a moment, it was utterly silent. It looked like the attack was over for the night.

"Wanna go and get something to eat?" Noir blinked, as the trio of X-men all turned to stare at him with odd expressions. "What? Wha'd I say? I'm _hungry_."

-

"You seem awfully calm Urd!" Clutching his baseball bat to his chest with one arm, Kevin pumped the other in an effort to gain more speed.

"That's because I know you can handle this." Urd had used her limited magical powers to summon a small case to hold all of her carefully mixed potions, and was having some trouble keeping up with the teenaged twins.

"Why don't you get Kevin to hold that? He's got an arm free." Erika, unencumbered by anything, was having just as much trouble keeping up as Urd was. "Arg! Why aren't you having any trouble dorkus!" It took a little effort, but she managed to shoot her brother a semi-jealous glare.

"Because mom made me do mile runs since I was ten!" The sheer idiocy he had felt performing that dreaded task, day in, day out, for six years on end, was beginning to fade a little. Had mom known this was going to happen? "WAIT! Did you say _we're_ going to handle this!" He shot the goddess a panicked glance.

"Yes, I did." Slowing to a shambling jog, Urd began panting for breath. Without her powers, the eldest Norn sister was no better off than Erika, she was also lacking the semi-boundless energy the teens shared.

"What? How?"

-

"You just had to ask, didn't you?" For once, it was Kevin's turn to glare at his sister.

"Sorry?" Erika rolled her shoulders, wishing that she had had time to grab one of her cloaks from the house before they ran for it. They were lucky enough to trick it into stomping _around_ the Devonshire home.

Sighing, Kevin shook out his hands, carefully flexing each of his fingers, one by one. "Wish I had my armor."

The bipedal machine was slowly stomping it's way toward them. The twins had managed to lure the mechanical terror over to a nearby park after the debacle with the police. Several squadcars had been crushed flat before the police had realized that not only were they out of bullets, they were having no effect at all on it's armored hide.

"Ok, I'll go first." Making a pair of quick sweeps with his hands, Kevin flicked his right hand forwards, fingers of his left hand held in an awkward shape. "Acidic globule!" A blob of fizzing green shot from the young sorcerer's hand, traversed the empty space between him and the machine, and splatted harmlessly against it's chest. "Well, that went well."

"My turn then." Throwing her shoulders back to unfurl her cloak, Erika's cheeks pinkened, as she realized she wasn't wearing one. Ignoring her brother's muffled snickers, she made a few passes through the air with her right hand, and a sweeping gesture with her left. "Earth's eruption!" The ground beneath the machine's feet rippled for a moment before a half dozen, four inch wide spikes of stone speared up from the earth, stabbing into it's descending foot.

The multi-ton machine crushed the earthen spears without so much as breaking it's stride, and continued lumbering on towards them.

"Oh, good, I think it's dead." Shaking his head, Kevin raised a hand towards the sky, turning his palm up as they white clouds above turned dark grey. "Acid and earth didn't work, so I'll try lightning." Pulling his housekeys out of his pocket, he used them to trace a complicated pattern through the air.

"I'll use your cloud, if you don't mind." Spitting into her palm, Erika dimly remembered their mother teaching them how to improvise magical foci like this. It took a degree of skill, and a fair bit of power away from the spell, but a weak spell was better than no spell at all. Closing her fingers over the little puddle of saliva, Erika made downward combing gestures with her free hand, keeping her attention on the swelling mass of dark cloud above.

"Plenty of cloud for everyone." Kevin's memory had followed a similar path as his sister's. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he focused instead on the head, the very top of the machine. His target. There was no somatic component to this particular spell, dear old mom had wanted him to be able to use this one without chanting for some reason. Bringing his upraised arm down in a swift chopping gesture, a bolt of yellow lightning lanced down from the cloud, arced through the air, and struck the top of the rampaging machine with little effect.

Clapping her hand together, Erika turned her palms outwards, towards the very same place her brother had aimed for, then turned her palms down to face the earth. "Spring torrent!" Fat drops of rain began to fall from above, rushing towards the earth at an unnatural rate as water began to mass upon the ground. "Yellow lightning? Since when was your lightning yellow?" She turned to glace at her brother.

"Since I don't have my amber rod or rabbit's fur." Shaking his head, he watched as the machine stumbled slightly, forced to slow it's pace over the muddy ground. His lightning should have been blue, but most of the power had diminished with the improvisation. "I don't think I've got anything that will hurt it directly... What about you?" He returned his sister's look.

Shaking her head as well, Erika wiped her palm against her jeans. "No, not without my spell components. We're in trouble, aren't we?" Erika shivered a little, not wanting to look at the approaching machine, and reluctant to admit how scared she was.

Nodding, Kevin moved closer to his sister, reaching out to hold her hand.

A sudden memory spared as the sibling's hands touched. Blinking rapidly, both turned to stare at each other for a moment, then looked over at the machine. A pair slow, sly smiles bloomed on the twin's lips.

"Good ol' mom." Kevin began looking around, taking stock of what their chosen battleground had to offer.

"Yup." Erika patted herself down, finally coming up with a small package of cinnamon candy. Their mother had taught them a lesson once, drilled it into them for weeks before giving up on teaching them anything more. They complained too much, but then, they were little kids back then.

"All we've got it mud, water, and grass..." Kevin's forehead creased as he frowned. "I think we'll have to conjure this one directly." He was dimly aware of his sister's movements, his mind was focused more on the half remembered lessons from their mother.

"I've got some cinnamon hearts." Waving the little home-made package, nothing more than plastic wrap with a twist-tie, she frowned as well. "If this doesn't do it, we won't have enough energy to do anything else... Or get away."

"It doesn't matter." Digging in his own pocket, Kevin came up with two pieces of peppermint gum. "Mint." Holding out the gum with his free hand, he gave his sister's fingers a light squeeze. "Mom's never let us down before, right?"

Nodding, Erika took the gum, and returned the squeeze. "Right." Opening first the gum, then the candy with her teeth, she popped a single stick, and a few hearts into her mouth, offering the remains to her brother. "Eww, you licked my hand."

"Eww, that was the hand you licked, wasn't it?" Macking a face, Kevin hastily chewed the candy and gum. It wasn't that they were peckish, they needed a focus, no matter how poor the source was. "Opposing elements, right? I'll take ice." Rolling around the mass of sugar in his mouth, he pushed it into his cheek with his tongue, and began chanting something similar to latin.

"Then I'll take fire." The time for jokes and giggles was over, and Erika began chanting as well. They were both very much aware that mixing opposed elements could very well blow them both to pieces if they did it wrong.

Sweeping their free hands about in slow, co-ordinated movements, taking care to mirror each other as much as possible. Their voices began to blend together as they settled into an even tempo, despite the fact that neither was speaking the same words. Flickers of light washed over and around them, forming blurry, faded arcane symbols that hovered stationary in the air.

Heedless of this glimpse of power manifest, the great machine stomped ever closer towards the children, it's glowing red eyes focused on it's one and only target. The goddess Urd, located directly behind the two magic users, five miles back. It would catch up with her, she couldn't run forever. It was only a matter of time. Raising a massive foot, the machine stomped down directly infront of the Devonshire children. It's next step would crush them both.

Snapping their hands forward, both siblings rushed their chanting to the end, neither caring what the end result would be. They had run out of time, and this was their only option. "Energy admixture!" The twin's voices blended together, matching their arcane energy as it swirled together, forming a mass of reddish-blue light that swam before them. As the metallic foot descended on them, the air crackled, and the mass of light detonated in afirey, bone chilling cloud of expanding energy.

Flung clear of the worst of the spell's effects, the twins sat up. They were soaked to the bone, covered in mud and grass stains, as well as burns and patches of frost. Glancing at each other for a moment, they turned as one to stare at the resulting crater they had formed.

The ground looked as if it had been scooped outward by the hand of a god. Not ten feet from the edge of the blast zone, the grass was completely untouched. And the machine that had come as close as they had to ending their lives was on it's back, unmoving. It's chest was torn open, revealing it's blackened stainless steel bones and melted plastic guts. Large patches of sooty black scorch marks dotted it's limbs and face.

Sharing a shaky grin, the two struggled to their feet, and began brushing themselves off. Neither had released the other's hand, not quite yet, anyway.

"Well, I guess that's a job well done, eh sister?" Kevin picked stray bits of grass off of her shoulders, ignoring the stinging burns on his cheeks for the moment.

"I would agree with you, brother, job well done." Brushing off Kevin's hair, she tried to ignore how shaken up she felt inside, not sure if she wanted to laugh, or cry, or both.

The touching family moment was ruined as the machine sat up.

-

Phew. Wow. Ok, this chapter is about two pages longer than I usually write. I guess I got a little caught up writing the scene for the twins. I would have continued on for a little bit more, but I felt that that was as good a place as any to cut to the end of the chapter.

Hmm, it's been awhile since I've done this, I guess I'll just cut straight to the reviews.

SushiiSquirrel - Glad to know that you're still reading, hopefully this chapter says a bit more about the Devonshire twins than a pair of squabbling teenagers. Hopefully. As for anime and manga references, of course, I love the stuff, between my manga and my shounen jumps, I have a buttload of anime too. Typo typo typo, yes, I know, but I'm often worried about coming across as clear, as you remember from my earlier chapters. The plot related confusions is intentional... As far as you know. We all have psycho friends, it's a fact of life, you just have to learn to deal with them. But I find it helps if you stand tall, stand firm, hold your ground, look them right in the eyes, and say 'Hey! Don't kill me.' ...Ok, so I've never tested this theory, but good luck with it, and lemmie know how it turns out, ok? And as for how everything's going, I'll mention that after the next, and last, review.

jordan 12 - Naturally! I always go into left field, BECAUSE I AM FRENCH! If we had a baseball team, it would only have left field, and no-one would be safe! Mwahahaha... Nah, I'm Canadian, AND NO, not FRENCH Canadian, I live in British Columbia. Glad that you lie the story, but the multiple characters thing has been working so far, so I'm gonna stick with it. Thanks for reading.

Ok, reviews done, heh, on to my personal update!

Yeah, I know, ego... But all that's left is moving the damn fridge, I should get around to that someday, maybe by the end of Febuary or something. Or Febtober! Lol.

So, that's about it really, no real new characters yet, I've gotta build up to that.

Dun dun DUUUNNNNNN!

Couldn't resist.


	17. Chapter Sixteen

This time it's in a mildly longer format, with plot development, yay! My notes slash excuses are at the bottom. Might as well read the story on your way down to hear me groveling, right? C'mon, you know you want to.

Er, read the story I mean. Not the groveling.

Mistaken Identity

Chapter Sixteen

The arrogant invincibility of the luddite in yellow.

The giant machine rumbled, still blasted and torn by the Devonshire twin's magic, struggling to lift itself back upright, finally managing with a screech of tortured metal.

Utterly spent, Kevin and Erika clung to one another. They had nothing left, not even the energy to try and run away. Accepting it as they knew it to be, their end, the two siblings closed their eyes, and held one another close. They had come into this world as one, and they would leave it the same way.

An enormous blast threw them off of their feet, sending them sprawling in the mud, still clinging together desperately. Another crash, not as violent, but fantastically loud, shook the earth, making it tremble like a wild and frightened beast.

"Feh, I can't stand machines."

Still shaking, the two lifted their heads, staring at the figure that stood between them, and what had looked like certain doom.

Shoulders slumped, long dark bangs hanging over his face, brilliant blue-white light dancing over his body like living flame, their personal savior stood there, arms dangling at his sides.

Slowly straightening up, the figure lifted his head to stare at the sky, dark locks slithering over his shoulders, swaying in the dying breeze. "On a day like this, you can see clear past forever." A ghost of a smile crossed his face. "All they way out, beyond the ken of mere humans and like mortals." A sincere smile curved the corners of his mouth upwards as he turned to look at the twins. "So far out, that you wind up looking right back at yourself, seeing who you really are, ne?"

Stunned, the two children could only lay there and gape. What else could they do? No matter what magical powers and knowledge they possessed, they were still children, barely on the threshold of adulthood. And they had very nearly been reduced to a fine paste by a machine crafted by an insane goddess trying to murder her sister at her weakest. Today was not a day to admire poetry.

Sighing, Mato hung his head. "Yeah, great, thanks... Way to blow my dramatic moment." Combing his fingers through his hair, he turned to face Skuld's metal juggernaut as it managed to struggle upright once more. "I think I'll blow my tension on this ugly jerk's face." Rolling his shoulders, he flicked a pair of corked glass vials behind himself. "Catch."

Twin glitters of light tumbled into the soft mud, the sticky earth clinging to the rough angles cut into the thick glass. Motes of orange light swirled around in the thin, syrupy fluid, as the brief, unearthly moment passed, and reality settled back into place, as if it had been trailing along behind Mato at a safe distance.

"Little present from Urd. Now get up and get goin' before I lose my cool." Curling his hands into fists, he held his hands up before his face, arms trembling, as if fear had taken a literal grip on him, and shook his limbs like a mad dog.

Scrambling to their feet, Kevin and Erika grabbed a mud covered vial each, and began running away as fast as they could manage. It was more of a shambling jog really, thanks mostly to the strength in Kevin's arms, to hold his sister upright, and the fear in his legs, to keep them moving as far away from the great metallic beast, and the madman who stood before it.

Grinning broadly, Mato flung his arms out wide, his entire body shaking. "I barely even dented that busted ass body of yours. As is, I'm no match for you at all." It was true, as strong as Mato was, all he had done was knock the titanic machine over.

He stood there, trembling, as the machine stood there, mirroring him in it's struggling efforts to move, either by design, or by some otherworldly force that kept it rooted for a bare moment. Acute sensors and digital cameras recorded every millisecond of that moment, as a faint glimmer flickered in his eyes. Thermal readings measured his body temperature, spectro-graphs recording a rise in a form of energy humanity had not yet learned how to measure.

All the readings pointed to one, single, absolute conclusion, that was verified by the bundle of emotions, barely held in check by flesh and contained by sheer will alone.

"I'm so damn EXCITED!" Blue flame practically exploded out from his body as Mato Hibiki threw himself at the still functional hunter-killer. Forged by a goddess or not, he was going to enjoy every single moment of ripping the damned thing to shreds with his bare hands.

-

"Why am I doing this?" Peter Parker fired a webline off at a random angle, jerking himself out of the path of a scything metal tentacle as it cleaved through the space where his head had just been.

"Because you can't really say no to him." Urd smiled despite the situation. "Well, you can, but it won't accomplish much."

-

To be, or not to be?

A man once asked that question. Was it of himself, or did he ask it of another? Ah, I guess it doesn't really matter, since I don't have much idea of what was going on at the time.

Never met the guy either, which strikes me as odd.

Y'see, I've lead an interesting life, I've met more than my fair share of people. Why not this guy? Enh, probably because I want to is why.

Oh well.

To be, or not to be? That is the question.

Is it really a noble thing, so put up with so much pain and suffering, just for one cause, for one end? Was that the real question? Hnh, maybe I should do some research, it's not like I don't have plenty of time on my hands.

Is it noble to pursue a cause, right up to the bitter end? Does it matter, how much you suffer, or if you pay for that suffering in blood, or tears? Is it noble to make others pay that cause?

There's an easy one there. Hell no. If you're going to do something, don't damn other people in the process. It's just not right. And don't get me started on what's 'right' and what isn't. That's semantics.

To be, or not to be? Is the weight of flesh an even match for the warmth of... Well, y'know... Heaven? Or the fires of Hell? Once you have fled this mortal coil, do the sins of absence pile on the scale of the afterlife?

All I know is, I can't hesitate. I can play with my own life all I want, I'll be damned if I'm gonna gamble with anyone else's.

To be, then.

That is my answer.

-

"Argh! Why can't I ever get a moments peace?" Smashing his fist into the face of a mini-sentinel, Noir griped and groaned. Off to the side the three remaining X-men, Jubilee, Wolverine, and Jean Grey, stuck close together, and fended for themselves. Noir wasn't in the mood to be protecting them, he was in the mood to crush anything that came at him. The pile of shattered metal at his feet was proof enough of that.

"So, this 'goddess' really wants the kid dead, doesn't she?" Logan raked his claws across the chest of another machine, and moved on to the next one, leaving the first to Jubilee and Jean. Between the two of them, the machine was blasted by energy globules, and torn apart by telekenetic force.

Wiping hydraulic fluid off of her face, Jubilee aimed for the next mutant hunting robot that Logan tore into. "That's what she said. She wants him by her side, or six feet under. Ex-girlfriend right?" Grinning despite her situation, she looked over at Logan for conformation.

"Seems like it t'me kid." From his point of view, Noir must have _really_ screwed up to get a girl this mad at him. From his experience, women were very forgiving if you were honest and upfront with them. Not that he'd ever admit to understanding women that well, it didn't mesh with his personality.

"I can't see how that could happen." Jean ripped the arms from a mini-sentinel, and smashed then into it's torso, rendering the machine non-functional. "It seems well beyond sanity to go this far."

"Y'got that right." Noir dashed past the trio, slamming his elbow into the neck of one of the mini-sentinels, sending it's head flying. "Hell, for all I know, I just forgot her birth- errr... One sec." Turning to one of the still functional machines, he waved his hand. "Hey Skuld, did I just forget your bir-"

In response, the sentinel blew itself apart, shrapnel pelting Noir. "Uhhh, izzaat a 'no' or what?"

-

"You know, this isn't at all like Norman's style." Arching his back, Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spiderman, narrowly avoided a jagged shard of metal mounted on the front of a Goblin glider, aimed at his spine. Both he and the Scarlet Spider had been fending off Green Goblin robots since eleven o'clock, and had run well past their fifth hour.

"I know. It's like it's-" Breaking off in mid-sentence, Ben Riley twisted his body into a shape a contortionist could only dream of, and backhanded the head off of yet another emerald robot. "It's like we're being distracted from something important." Firing a webline onto a Goblin glider, Ben jerked himself out of the path of another pair of Green Goblin robots, the pair smashed into one another, blowing apart in a magnificent fireball. "You think the Avengers called?"

"Nah, Mary-Jane would have paged me." Spiderman punched the head off of one Goblin-bot, and narrowly avoided being impaled by the spike on the front of a second Goblin glider. A ribbon of pain lanced through his shoulder, and it occurred to him that they were running out of steam. He and Ben had been falling into a rhythm, bounding back and forth between two buildings, fighting, leaping, swinging, and smashing Goblin bots for hours. "I think you're right though... We're being misled."

"Yup." Taking advantage of the pattern a dozen Goblin bots were flying around them, the Scarlet Spider fired a webline between a building and a glider, managing to knock a bot off of it's mobile perch, and sending it to a messy death far, far, below them. "But what cou-Noir!" Twisting his spine, Ben fired a webline into the chest of another Goblin-bot, an jerked himself close to Spiderman. "I'm sure of it, this is all to keep us from helping him."

"How can you be so sure?" Peter spun around, driving his heel into the face of a Goblin-bot, and wrenched it's head ninety degrees, sending a spray of sparks into the air. "It could just be one of our old-"

"No, it's Noir, I'm sure of it." Grabbing Peter's wrist, Ben dropped a dozen stories, and began swinging towards westchester. "Think about it. Why would Norman use robots? He loves the feeling of torturing us- torturing you, with his bare hands."

Firing a webline onto a pursuing Goblin-bot, Spiderman yanked it towards himself, drove his fist through it's chest, shook the body off, and began webslinging after the Scarlet Spider. "You're right, this is too impersonal for Norman." Frowning behind his mask, Peter's thoughts were a jumble of confusion. "Do you think Ma-"

"No, it's Noir, or nothing." If there was one thing Ben Riley was sure of, it was that Noir was the main target of this whole mess. There was no reason to aim for anybody else, this mass of Goblin-bots was only there to distract them, nothing more. If they were going for himself or Peter, they would have attacked their homes by now. These Goblin-bots were only striking the places they'd most likely be. How else would they have stumbled upon a flight of flying robots? By accident? Ben Riley didn't believe in accidents or coincidence. Everything happened for a reason, and the reason for this attack was to keep them from helping Noir. He could feel it in his bones.

-

"You're kidding, right? You're telling there's a four story robot, built with the sole purpose of killing you, with enough firepower to level half the city-" Interrupted, Peter Parker, the Amazing Spiderman, glanced down at the woman he was carrying.

"Yes." Utterly calm, Urd, the eldest of the Norn sisters focused on the police cruisers trailing in a long line behind them. They were heading back to the park where the Devonshire twins had stopped to delay the massive machine out for her blood.

"You didn't let me finish. With enough firepower to level half the city, and you want to go back, even though you just told me that there's no way we can possibly stop it?"

"Like I said, yes." She was being honest, there was no way she could possibly handle that machine with her current diminished level of power. The twins were also lacking, in both training and experience. They had a great deal of power, but their current magical skills didn't offer a wide enough channel to pour their raw energy out through. That was something she'd have to see about fixing, if they were going to live long enough to stop Skuld.

"So then why are we even going then? Moral support?" This plan of hers was beginning to sound more and more like suicide to him. How did one deal with a gigantic robot anyways? "Could we call Mighty Thor?"

"Exac- Thor?" Frowning, Urd lowered her head, tucking her chin into her chest. "Mmm, no, I can't quite make a conne-"

"I was kidding." Chuckling despite what they were about to fling themselves headlong into, Peter shook his head. "Mighty Thor... Ahhh, that's funny." Releasing his hold on the webline, the two of them dropped below the treeline and landed at the edge of what looked like a blast crater. "Looks like ground zero. What- Oh." Stunned at the size of the thing, Spiderman found himself outright _gaping_ at the hunter-killer built to destroy the former goddess.

It was big. Big big. Big in a way that some people would describe a house. And it was very damaged, bits of metal a piping fell from it as it moved, smashing a fist into the earth hard enough to make it tremble beneath his feet. "Woah."

"You idiots! What the hell are you doing back here!" Touching the ground for an instant, a yellow and black blur threw itself skyward again, alighting on a tree branch and glaring down at the pair. "Didn't I just waste all that time getting her to safety? And you bring her _back_? This isn't friggin' customer service here! Get goddamn moving!" Launching himself away from the tree as a titanic, soot stained, purple fist smashed into it, the two toned blur became the familiar shape of one Mato Hibiki.

And he was _livid_.

"Urd? Are you ok?" Panting heavily, Kevin Devonshire trotted up, carefully lowered his sister to the ground, and doubled over, gasping for air.

"Is she ok? You look like you're dead on your feet." Leaning forwards, Spiderman carefully took one of Kevin's arms and slung it over his shoulder. The kid looked like he had been through sheer hell, his clothes were actually burned in some spots. "Are you alright?"

Kevin's eyes actually doubled in size. "Spuh-spuh-spuh... Spiderman?" If it were possible, his knees felt even more rubbery than before. Spiderman! In the flesh! The Amazing, the Fantastic, the Spectacular-

"Um, you can stop staring at me like that. I'm not as bad as all the papers say." Wincing behind the mask, Peter felt a stab of shame, that his reputation could be so tarnished to some people, just because of J. Jonah Jameson.

"No no no! It's not that... It's just... You're my hero, well, one of them." Grinning, Kevin felt some of his fatigue melt away. "I'm fine, really. The burns are just my clothes, the fire didn't do anything to my skin."

"It's true, he is somewhat magically resistant." Reaching out with a hand, Urd brushed dried mud away from Kevin's cheek, revealing unblemished flesh. "And very lucky too." Crouching down, Urd gently turned Erika's face up to look hr in the eyes. "You you well?"

"I'm... Fine Urd... Juh- just dandy..." Giving the former goddess a shaky smile, Erika resisted the temptation to slump over and beg for another five more minutes to rest. Two would probably be enough.

"Are you morons done blabbing yet? My God! I can't believe I'm standing here, throwing my life away so you four can have teatime! God!" Narrowly avoiding a titanic fist, Mato landed, bounced, and rolled away as the tree that hadn't been lucky enough to be gifted with superhuman agility was shattered to splinters.

"Sorry Mato, but you're not allowed to die here." Standing up, Urd began walking towards the fight.

"He-hey! Hang on a sec!" Starting forwards, Spiderman stopped as Kevin nearly toppled over. Torn between helping the former goddess, and the kid who looked like he was half dead, Peter steadied Kevin first.

"Mato Hibiki! You're not allowed to die here, do you understand me?" Urd continued forward, and it soon became obvious that the machine has detected her presence. Turning it's ponderous bulk with some difficulty, it began moving to meet her.

"Are you insane? I've barely even dented that thing! Get the hell away you nutjob!" Shoving himself to his feet, Mato stared, semi-stunned.

"No, Skuld is the insane one, and you're the only one currently aware of her, with enough power to stop her." Slowing to a halt, Urd crossed her arms over her stomach, she fixed Mato with a steely eye. "If you die here, then so do I. I'd rather die then live without hope."

"Oh god, you sound like some stupid melodra-"

"I should, I learned it from you." A small smile turned up the corners of her mouth. It only lasted for an instant though, the great machine was still drawing closer, it was nearly close enough to bring it's fist down on her. A single blow would be enough to turn her into a fine red paste.

"No way! Uh-uh! I am not gonna just stand here and take this kinda crap Urd. You'd better think aga-"

Stomping to a halt, the creation of a mad goddess of the future, looking like something half-made by a demented tinkerer, raised it's massive fist and brought it down on Urd's head.

There was a sudden rush of wind, as treelimbs bent, and leaves and grass were torn apart and flung heedlessly away. An eerie yellow light flashed, nearly blinding all that looked upon it, save one.

"Sepuku shi shi hoku dan!"

Another flash, and thunder rolled through the air and the earth. A concussion ripped turf and tree alike apart, and a blast of heat blew it all to dust. The air was silent, heavy, empty save for the black dust that fell like a snow of the dead.

"I said... I'm not gonna just stand here and take this crap." Raising his head, Mato Hibiki bared his fangs at the former goddess and lowered his arms to his sides. A long furrow some five yards wide had been plowed into the ground at his feet, and led some dozen more to a wide crater, where there was nothing but black dust and some small fragments of metal. "So." Straightening up from his hunched over stance, he hooked his thumbs into his pockets, and began walking towards Urd. "Whatcha got in mind?"

"Holy shit." Gaping, Kevin slowly slumped to the ground, sliding down Spiderman's side. A few feet away, with a similar expression, Erika could only nod in mute agreement.

While they had put all their energy together in blasting a large chunk out of the machine, Mato had completely obliterated it.

"He must have sold his soul to get that kind of power." Again, Erika could only nod in agreement. It was no wonder he had been so eager to die. He was some sort of living abomination.

"What?" Freeing a hand from his pocket, Mato patted his cheeks. "I got somethin' on my face?"

-

Wow, that took a really long time to write. The last half just flew together, but the beginning was hell to get out. Really, very sorry about the time it took to put this one up. I have little to no excuse...

Review time!

SushiiSquirrel - Glad you like my little nerdlings, I took a great deal of effort crafting th- no, I'm lying, I just slapped something together! Heh. I have plans for them, maybe even some more development and a plot twist or two.. Or maybe not? Who knows! As for ol' Pete, yeah, he got sidetracked a bit, both of them did actually. So you get to see what each one was doing to keep busy. It's not like they stopped for coffee or anything.

Maybe a bagel.

So! That's my chapter before I head off to disney land, I'm gonna ride the teacups, yay! Before you make fun, I've never been... And my dad wants to punch out mickey mouse. I said goofy, but he remains adamant. So we're going to jail too, yay...

I'm kidding... Oh dear lord I HOPE I'm kidding.

...Oh! And no, I don't have a myspace thingy... What would I use it for, really? Izzit like... a BBS or something? What does BBS even stand for anyways?


	18. Chapter Seventeen

Yawn, another new chapter, another opening block of text, lessee... Ok, I'm going to be ending Mistaken Identity soon, I think it's dragging on a bit too long for my tastes, it should be finished by chapter twenty or so, if I hit the mark just right.

I've decided that since it'll take me a long time to rewrite the first dozen chapters into a more... Acceptable form, I'm gonna end this half.

Yeah, that's right, I'm making a duology. Mistaken Identity will be the first half of the story, this will give me a chance to spare new readers the ugliness of the first twenty thousand words, heh.

That is, unless I come up with something brilliant to extend the length of the story. As planned, it's a duology, to it should span a total of forty chapters, give or take. If a new aspect comes up that I fall in love with... Perhaps reader input, hint hint... I may extend it to a trilogy, but that's a pretty big maybe.

So, fifty thousand words nearly down, and another fifty thousand to go. Sounds like fun.

Oh... I'll probably open up a forum thread just so I can stick in extended character backgrounds and plot developments that aren't well covered in the fic. Kind of like a whiteboard for me really, but it'll give anyone interested a place to ask questions I wouldn't normally have space to answer. Plus, I'll be able to reply to any questions a lot faster, since you won't have to wait for a new chapter to come up to get them... Lord knows, I don't post them as fast as I should. Naturally, it'll be in the Spiderman section, which is located in the _comics_ section of the forums. Phew.

Ok, so, take it how you like, good or bad news. Anyways, on to the story, already in progress.

Mistaken Identity

Chapter Seventeen

Show me what it's like, to be the last one standing.

The rain pounded down on Kevin, plastering his clothes against his body, matting his hair down and making it stick to his forehead. His so-called waterproof jacket was completely soaked, and twin puddles were forming in his shoes. In short, the only son of the Devonshire clan was wet and miserable.

"Well, at least it isn't windy." Standing next to the teenaged magic user, Mato Hibiki was nice and dry, sheltered beneath a red bamboo umbrella. Blinking at the sour look his companion directed towards him, he smiled impishly. "Hey, I can't help it if you didn't think to bring an umbrella with you. I _said_ it looked like rain."

Seething for several moments, Kevin finally snapped and jabbed a finger at the umbrella. "Where the hell did you get that?" When they left the house, the sky had been clear, and Mato was empty handed. Now it looked like a sackful of dirty cotton batting had been spread out above them, and Mato had snatched the umbrella from _somewhere_.

"This?" Glancing up at the scarlet bamboo shielding his head from the rain, he looked thoughtful for a moment before shrugging. "It was in my pocket." Returning his gaze to the street three stories below, he turned his mental focus on more important matters. _Predicting Skuld's next move ain't gonna be easy, naturally. Ah screw it. I'm just gonna hang around until some bozo minion shows up and tries to back attack me. Shouldn't be too long really, it's too perfect a moment for a lackey who thinks he's dramatic. _

_Lotta rain though... Somebody should really do something about that. And suddenly, I have a craving for Okonomiyaki. Weird. _ Needless to say, Mato had a train of thought that looked like it belonged in a disaster movie.

Letting out something that sounded very similar to a growl, Kevin turned and looked around, deciding that if someone had come up with the dumb idea of trying to sneak up on them, he'd vent his misery on them. The rooftop was empty save for an air conditioning duct or two, and a single rooftop stairwell entrance. It was virtually featureless and covered in slowly growing puddles that reflected what thin strips of moonlight shone through the ragged, water swollen clouds.

Squinting, Kevin took a few slow steps in the direction of one of the ducts, trying to figure out if he had actually seen a flicker of movement, or-

Inky black shadows peeled themselves from the rooftop and struck out at him, flailing away with insubstantial semi-transparent limbs. "Woah!" Jumping back, Kevin decided it would be best to let Mato handle this situation. Following the tail end of that thought, Kevin continued to backpedal towards the edge of the rooftop.

"Watch it, I really don't feel like taking a three story spill toni- ah crap." Turning, Mato rested the handle of his umbrella against a shoulder, flicking the end of his braid back behind his head with a snap of his fingers. "Company. Fun." Grinning, he completed his turn, opening his mouth to reveal a pair of sharp fangs. "Well, c'mon, I don't have all ni-"

A blast of midnight in the shape of a skull cut him off mid-sentence as it slammed into his chest, knocking him a good dozen feet clear of the roof before he began falling down towards the street.

"One down." Rising up out of the very rooftop itself, a teenager close to Kevin's age, with black hair and a slim build, tossed a corner of his dark cape out in a dramatic sweeping arc. Every scrap of cloth the newcomer wore was dark, to the point of redundancy. "My name is Slade." Smiling calmly, the boy began closing the distance between himself and Kevin with slow, measured steps. "I'm here to kill you for my mistress." With a flick of his hand, the shadow creatures lunged towards Kevin.

"No!" Raising his arms and crossing his wrists in front of his chest, Kevin formed an odd gesture with one hand, the fingers of his other hand tracing an elaborate path through the air. "Arcing bolt!" Pointing with the index and pinky fingers of his right hand, two fat sparks lept from his digits, and struck the edge most shadows of the line that rushed towards him. An instant later a current of orange lightning danced between the shadow creatures he had struck, causing the entire group of shades to dissolve back into the rooftop.

Staring with his mouth hanging partway open, Slade quickly composed himself, brushing an imaginary speck of dust from his dark tunic. "Hmph, shadow creatures are so useless without light." Backing up several paces, he kept a bored expression plastered on his face.

"Uh... Isn't that backwards?" Startled at the effectiveness of his weakened spell, Kevin quickly dug in his pocket, fishing for his spell components. He had been lucky enough to have grabbed a metal bracelet from his room before he had left home that night, it worked about as well as his keys had the day before.

"Don't be retarded, shadows are useless without light. Light makes deeper shadows, makes them more substantial, more... Material." Glancing up at the moon that was almost completely hidden behind the clouds, Slade drew a small vial from his pocket.

"Great, I'll be sure to remember that next time." Pulling a string of tangled beads from his pocket, Kevin passed them to his other hand and froze as something occurred to him. "I don't suppose you'd be willing to surrender?"

"No. I'm much more interested in killing you quickly, so I can see what the pack of Vampires has done to your friend." Smiling nastily, Slade made a gesture with his free hand, several hidden threads cleverly woven into his tunic burned with a harsh red light. A wave of darkness raised itself up from the roof and threw itself at Kevin.

_Spell enhancing pattern, crap._ Grabbing one of the unbeaded threads dangling from the clump of string and wood, Kevin gave it a good yank, and the entire bundle shrunk in on itself before exploding outwards. The wooden beads clacked as they unfurled and stretched the brown threads beyond their limit, forming a woven structure around Kevin's body. The entire cage shivered as the wave of shadow crashed down on it, but it held it's shape, protecting the young Arcanist from harm, for the moment.

"A Druidic weave spell? Well, aren't you just full of surprises?" Still smiling, Slade walked over to examine the craftwork, being careful to not actually touch it. "What would happen if I added another wave of shadow to the mix?" Waving his hand, the red threaded pattern on his tunic lightened to an orange shade as a second wave of shadowstuff crashed down atop the first.

The cage creaked as it shifted and bent under the strain, the wooden beads beginning to crack from the dark stress being placed upon it's nature formed substance. Kevin made a soft _tch_ sound as he sucked on his bottom lip, trying to think. He was an Arcane magic user, there was no way he could use his own power to bolster the flagging barrier. Divine magic, Druidic in particular was too outside his own mindset for that. Whatever he was going to do, he was running out of time. He could see the small tears beginning to form in the knots of mystic energy holding the beads and string together.

"You SONOFABITCH!" A blast of light slammed down on the mound of darkness pinning Kevin's barrier to the ground, causing the shadow to first thicken and solidify, before blasting it completely apart.

A corpse thudded to the ground at a surprised Slade's feet, horrific burns on it's face and chest still smoking. It's fanged maw was wide open in a silent scream of agony. "Wh-what happened? What is this?" Taking a step back, the shadowmage raised an arm to ward off the blows he expected to follow.

"It's your goddamn Vampire, assmonkey! Do you really think a little pack of undead are gonna even slow me down?" Landing between Kevin and Slade, Mato looked a little less livid than he sounded as he tapped his umbrella against his shoulder. His tunic was ripped in several places, and spotted with blood in others. "Yo, Kev, you ok?"

_How the hell did he do that? I can understand being able to channel destructive energy, I do it all the time. But channeling pure light? How is that possible without magic?_ "Uh, yeah. I'm alright." Considering the condition of his damaged barrier, Kevin plucked a string free from one of the knots, and gave it a gentle tug. The entire mass collapsed into a loose circle of frazzled thread and cracked beads. "Are you ok? If you got bit by one of those things..." He trailed off, not really sure about the treatment for a Vampire bite.

"You're thinking of a Werewolf, and yeah, I'm good. These are just a few talon slashes." Clicking his teeth together, Mato began closing the distance between himself and Slade. "Ok first, I'm gonna take my revenge outta your ass, then we'll figure out what you want." His knuckles crackled loudly as he held up his hand and balled it up into a fist. "Jackass."

"Oh, I don't think so." Grinning, Slade cocked back an arm, tendrils of black energy snaked around his fist, the soft crackling sound blending in with the constant patter of rain. _This specific spell was given to me by my mistress, along with my armor. It'll take care of you in a single blow, and then I'll deal with that stupid useless kid too._ "DIE!" Thrusting his arm forward, Slade launched a horizontal stream of dark purple light at Mato.

"Hey! Look out! He's gonna-" Kevin reacted a little too late. All that time watching Star Wars should have better prepared him for someone saying 'I don't think so' but he was a little too slow to realize what it ment.

Blinking in surprise, Mato turned to glance over his shoulder at Kevin, trying to see what was the matter. "Huh? Wait, wha- Ungh!" And for his trouble, he took the blast full in the chest, and was knocked back off of his feet. Rolling heels over head a few times, he slid to a halt at Kevin's feet, the impact point of the blast still sizzling.

Staring, open mouthed in shock, Kevin made a couple of soft noises in the back of his throat.

"Ah ha ha haaaaa... Ah, Mistress! That spell worked perfectly!" The threaded pattern on Slade's armor was glowing yellow now, and he crowed at the top of his lungs, turning his face up to call to the sky. "I proved it! I'm your greatest success! I am worthy!" Grinning, Slade lowered his gaze down to the rooftop, eager to see the results of his handiwork again.

What he got for his trouble, was a fist slamming into his face, knocking him flat onto his backside.

-

"Oooohhhhh... Maaaannn..." Raising his head a little, Noir let out a dull groan. It felt like his entire head had been taken apart, and put back together by a blind carpenter. "Ngghh, where am I?" Moving to sit up, he felt weight on his limbs, far more than he should have been feeling from a simple concussion. "Oh goodie, _chains_." Letting out a heavy sigh, he slowly shoved the chains away from his limbs and sat up, ignoring the shackles on his wrists and ankles. "Ok, where am I?"

Frowning at the faint clatter that came from nearby as he shifted his legs, he glanced down. "Uh." Stark white and twisted, covered in fractures and probably worse, if the stains were any indication, he was surrounded on all sides by bones. Skeletons, in fact, several sets of complete skeletons, and more than a few bodys worth of incomplete sets too. "Great, cellmates."

Sighing again, Noir forced himself up into a crouch, and examined his current residence. A slate floor, four walls and a ceiling made out of iron bars, an entire cage dangling from a massive chain inside some sort of titanic vertical shaft. Shaking his head, he crawled over to the side, and stuck his head out between the bars. "Hmmm." It was eerie silent, the kind that made the darkness around him feel like it was raw black cotton, pressing in from all sides, suffocating and muffling everything.

Shrugging, Noir peeled his mask back away from his chin and lower jaw, worked his lungs a few times, and spat out a gob of blood and saliva. Clamping his jaw shut, he struggled to breathe as his lungs seemed to convulse explosively a few times. The wracking feeling in his chest left him trembling, but he held himself in check and listened, and waited.

And waited.

Finally, after seemed like an eternity and a half, he heard the thick _pat_ of the globule striking something that sounded like wood to him. Closing his eyes, he let out a sigh, that quickly turned into a wracking cough. Setting his head down on his arms, he struggled to catch his breath, and suppress the urge to hack himself to death.

Finally satisfied that his life wasn't in any more danger, he wiped his mouth on his forearm, and tugged his mask back down over his face. Using the crudely forged bars, he forced himself up onto his feet, and stuck his head back out of the cage again. His breathing was loud and ragged in his ears, and with each movement of his chest, he could feel something rattling around in his lungs and middle.

The corner of his mouth twitched slightly as visions of internal injuries swam through his head. Putting the grim thoughts out of his mind, he set his hands on the bars, and frowned as the chains attached to his shackles drew taut. Shaking his head, he stepped back from the side of the cage, and stared down at the folded iron set over his wrists. Thinking for a moment, he shrugged, and jerked his arms sharply.

The heavy links of metal came loose with a hideous screeching snap, and clattered to the slate floor, crushing some of the bones unlucky enough to be between the metal and the hard place. Chuckling at the idiocy of whoever had tried to lock him up successfully, Noir suddenly doubled over, hacking and gasping. Clawing at his mask, he managed to tear it free of his face before he vomited, slumping over on his side to avoid the mess of red as he collapsed.

Blackness dulled his vision as he feebly crawled over to the edge of the cell, dimly aware of just how much damage his body had taken. As darkness swallowed his mind, his last thought was of how little time he had left.

"Four... Hours."

-

Wiping blood from the corner of his mouth, Slade sat up, glaring daggers at the one who had dared to strike him. "I'll make you pay for that with your life." He winced at the taste, dark and sulphurous, as he swallowed it down.

"I think I've already paid for it... I think I broke a finger." Shaking his hand, Kevin gently tugged on his ring finger, and let out a hiss of pain. "No, ow, no. Just a sprain." Sighing, he rubbed his hand a few times. "You've got a hard face." Turning a little, Kevin stared at Mato's limp body. "What did you do to him anyways?"

"I killed him." With some difficulty, Slade levered himself back up onto his feet. "That was a spell specifically created to kill him, just as my mistress wished." Fumbling around at his feet for a moment, he finally wrapped his hand around the glass vial he had dropped. Examining it closely, he scowled at the hairline crack that was leaking deep purple fluid like a wound.

"Well now you're done, that last spell burned out your enhancing pattern." Pointing his good hand, Kevin allowed himself a small smile of triumph. In truth, he felt like throwing up, but he couldn't risk showing any weakness, or he'd wind up on the rooftop alongside Mato.

Looking down in surprise, Slade suddenly noticed the smell of burnt metal and cloth. His tunic had visible strands of wire sticking out of it, they had blown out when the pattern had been strained past the breaking point by that last spell. "A powerful spell indeed. Well worth the cost though." Smiling nastily, he unstoppered the vial, and lifted it to his lips. "This will be more than enough to kill you, and after I'm done, I think I'll feed your friend's body to my lizards _after_ I've pissed on it. It'll add flavor, low grade meat needs some seasoning after all"

Staring silently, Kevin took a step forward, and raised his hands. "I've changed my mind."

"Oh?" Slade paused with the vial halfway tipped, the burbling liquid nearly brushing his torn lip. "Will you lay down and die like a good dog?" He felt the corners of his mouth tug upwards at the thought of bringing a broken slave home to his mistress. His reward could be even greater than she first promised.

"No." Sliding his sleeves up his arms, something shone with a faint blue light, a small tracery of something indistinct and amorphous. The metal bracelet jingled softly as his hand clasped over the thick links of steel, the fingers of his other hand curling into an odd shape. "I'm not giving you the chance to surrender again." Jaw firmly set, Kevin stood stiffly, staring hard into Slade's eyes. "I'm sending you to hell for what you did."

"Is that so?" Tipping the vial up, Slade gulped down the contents, trying not to show any signs of how badly he wanted to scream, and tear out the back of his own throat in an effort to make the burning sensation the potion he had just swallowed was creating. Hunching over, he crushed the thin glass between his fingers, barely feeling the sharp shards slicing into his flesh. Letting out a bestial growl, he could feel the pain in his throat ebbing away under the tide of raw agony, that felt like his entire body was tearing itself apart.

Feeling his skin crawl, Kevin could only stare, as Slade's body seemed to be ripping itself to pieces, and melting back together in a new, and terrible shape. His mind wandered for a moment, as he involuntarily catalogued the pieces.

Horns, ribbed and curved like a ram's. Skin, warped and bumpy like a lizard's. Teeth, sharp and multi-rowed like a shark's. Legs, hooved and backward jointed like a goat's. Claws, short and sharp like a lion's. Arms, thick and long like a gorilla's. Face, long and muzzled, like a bull's.

His only coherent thought was simply this. _Curse the Discovery Channel._

-

Sitting up from where she lay, a slender figure of quiet beauty looked around, quite surprised to find herself where she was. "I must have dozed off." Letting out a delicate snort, she sighed, and stretched, and swung her slim legs off of the couch and onto the floor. "I think I've spent too much time around him, now I'm starting to pass out where ever I happen to be laying.

Shaking he head, she tossed her long white locks over her shoulder, and began walking for the kitchen. She didn't make it more than three steps however. Dark spindly shadow figures tore themselves free from the shadows of the furniture, and began awkwardly mincing their way towards her.

"Mmm, no, I don't think so." Lifting a hand, bright blue electricity crackled over her fingers, rippling wildly in the soft yellow glow cast by her other hand. "Shadow creatures, I'm almost insulted." As she increased the light, the creatures grew thicker, and more substantial, becoming more active as they closed in on her. Letting out a snort, this one very arrogant and unladylike, she dropped her hand, sending wreathing bolts of lightning out in a spread.

The shadow spawn let out a collective shriek and burst into acrid smoke, sizzling out of existence in a soft puff of noise. After a moment, another clutch of the beings tore themselves out of the room's shadows, and closed in on her again. Shaking her head, she flicked one of her hands, and made a pulling gesture.

Somewhere outside of the room, a young man let out a yelp, as he felt his body jerk forward at an angle, slamming his face into the wall. "So." He said, as he clutched his face with one hand, blood dripping out between his fingers. "The bitch can use Telekinesis." Scowling, he raised his free hand, and froze, as he caught sight of something moving out of the corner of his eye.

"I can do more than that. I can also make you pay for that smart mouth of yours." Standing at his elbow, with her hands held close to the intruder's face, she was smiling.

She was Urd, eldest of the Norn sisters, Goddess of the Past, and she was very good at not showing how pissed off she was at being called a bitch. The crackling and sparking shaft of bright white lightning she held in her hand gave some hint of that away, however.

-

Tossing himself to the side, Kevin rolled over twice and jumped to his feet, one arm wrapped about his middle, trying to hold his ribs together. Chunks of roof tore asunder beneath a sharp set of claws where he had lain not more than a second ago. Breathing raggedly, Kevin wove a pattern through the air one handed, making a flicking gesture as he flung glowing incandescent bolts of force at the beast that had once been Slade.

The bolts spattered the flesh of the horrible creature, tearing and melting skin, and hardly doing much more than increasing it's bestial rage. Again and again it lunged at him, striking concrete and metal more often than the flesh of the wounded magic user.

Gasping raggedly, Kevin ran in a zig-zag pattern, ignoring the fragments of metal and stone that pelted his body. All of his more useful combat spells needed two hands to cast, and he had learned quickly that if he didn't hold his ribs with one arm, the pain would be too great to even stand. Rivers of fire erupted from his back, and he was knocked off his feet, sent flying a dozen feet before he struck the rooftop again.

Rolling over with a feeble groan, he could barely make out the black shape thudding towards him from the rest of the darkness that filled his vision. Trying to turn off of his back, and onto his side, Kevin let out a weak moan as he put weight onto his shattered ribs. Swallowing the coppery tasting saliva filling his mouth, he tried twice more to turn onto his side before giving up. He just didn't have the strength left to fight anymore.

He could still feel it. The feeling of his magic burning in his veins. Hot tears pricked his eyes, both from the pain, and the sudden shame that _this_ was all he could do. All his magical reserves left, and he couldn't even avenge one person. Dimly aware that what had once been Slade, was now standing over him, he closed his eyes and slumped where he lay.

_No! Can't just give up now dammit! What the hell kinda thinking is that?_

Sudden strength flowed through his body, and Kevin's legs kicked back over his head, his body bent at a sharp angle, just enough for his feet to touch the rooftop, and he was suddenly upright and leaping back from the claws that had been descending for his face. Chunks of stone peppered him as he landed lightly on the balls of his feet, and Kevin found himself staring at the distance between himself, and the new hole in the roof.

Feeling new strength burning through his body, Kevin's mind suddenly grew hazy and dim. The new pain was too much for him to bear, and he felt himself drifting off. _Sleep_, he decided, _wouldn't be so bad right now_.

Hunching over, Kevin's arms went limp as he swayed on his feet, before he tipped over, falling face first towards the hard rooftop. He never struck ground, as his leg moved of it's own accord, stepping forward to keep his body upright. His chest heaved as his oxygen starved body gave in to it's need to fill it's lungs.

The beast that had once been Slade paused for a moment, the nostrils in it's bull-like muzzle flaring. It smelled something, something that made it pause and consider it's prey. The thing that it had chosen as it's meal, barely standing there, with it's arms limply hanging as it struggled to breathe. It _smelled_ different.

Tilting his head back, the would-be prey turned it's face up to look at the darkskinned monster, lips peeling back to smile grimly at the clawed horror. The smile changed, somehow, without his lips moving, it became a mixture of scorn and amusement. The eyes, that had been clouded with fear and pain, were no longer Kevin's blue-grey. They were now bright green, and filled with eager anticipation.

"Ok bitch, you wanna go?" Kevin's fingers slowly curled into fists, the bracelet on his wrist jangling softly in the still, night time air. "If you even _think_ that a couple of broken ribs are even gonna _slow me down-_" Lunging forward suddenly, Kevin's arm shot out, slamming into the monster's muzzle, and sent it bouncing back across the rooftop like a rock skipping on a pond. "You've got another goddamn thing comin' ugly."

Straightening up, the back of Kevin's hand wiped the thin trickle of blood from his lips. "You seem to have a thing for picking on people smaller than you." He began walking forwards, slowly at first, as the beast was picking itself up off of the rooftop. "Well I'm smaller than you." Charging towards what had been Slade just as he was getting upright, Kevin broke into a sprint, and slammed his fist into what had once been Slade's neck, sending the Chimera-creature flying off of the battle-torn rooftop. "Try pickin' on me!"

Shaking his hand to remove the tingling feeling from his knuckles, bright green eyes traced the falling path of the monster as it crashed into the building across the street. Sighing, he crouched down for a moment, examining his face in one of the puddles that dotted the rooftop. A faint smear of blood decorated his cheek, and there was a patch of scrapes covering the other. Aside from that, he looked generally battered and bruised. "Hmm."

Frowning, he passed a hand over his hair, a soft blue glow trailed from his fingertips, stretching and warping the light brown strands, extending and turning them a much darker shade of brown. Considering the reflection for a moment longer, he tore a strip from Kevin's shirt, and bound his long hair back in a ponytail. "No, something's missing. Ah, right." Tearing another strip off, he tied it about his forehead like a headband.

"That'll do." Standing back up, he winced at the tearing sensation in his middle. Passing a hand glowing soft green over his chest and stomach, he carefully knitted torn flesh and cracked and broken bone in a matter of a few seconds. "There, that fixes that." Sighing, he glanced over at the next building, and realized that the Slade-beast had gotten back up onto his/it's feet. "Great, there goes my window. Ah screw it."

Taking a step back from the edge of the roof, Kevin's lips twisted into a smirk. "Knock me outta my own body will you?" Taking two quick steps forward, Mato Hibiki sent Kevin's borrowed body sailing off the edge of the roof, over the street below, and landed just inside of the ragged hole that had been torn open by Slade's body. Slamming his fist into the broken concrete floor, the entire slab gave way, and dropped the two of them down into the room below. "I'm gonna mess you up asshole!"

-

Well, that's it for this chapter. I think it ran a bit longer than usual, ah well, who's gonna complain? Hmm, it's been awhile since I wrote my intro, so I can't remember what I was gonna say down here. Oh well, on to the reviews.

SushiiSquirrel - Ah yes, delicious coffee. Y'know, I never did have any that day. Sorry about the confusion, but if I wrote everything as obvious, then there wouldn't be any real reason for trying to figure out the plot, would there? And, I'm glad you like the story so far, you are, OFFICIALLY, my biggest fan, you get the gold sticker and everything.

Before I explain about the characters you asked about, I'd like to take a second to say that if you like Norse stuff, I'd suggest watching 'The Thirteenth Warrior' awesome movie.

Ok, time for a little bit of character info, something that I'd put in my little forum page, if I had made it yet. Oh well, you can request that in a review if you're interested (hint hint) here we go.

Mato Hibiki, firstly, is an original character I created way back in 1996 or so, and he is based largely on Rumiko Takahashi's Ranma 1/2. Specifically, he an amalgamation of several characters, two of them are very obvious, if you remember his hairstyle and outfit. I've been working on his life and background for just about ten years now, but this is his semi-official fanfic debut.

He didn't start out very strong, and he wasn't too smart either, but over the years, he's really developed a lot, though, in the current time frame of the fic, he's about a year, nearly two younger than he should be. So, if I ever write a sequel to this story, you'll get to see exactly what he's fully developed into as both a person, and as an interesting (I hope) character.

Urd, Skuld, and the third sister, who doesn't (yet) appear in this fic, Belldandy. Urd is the name of a river in Norse mythology, I believe, but it's two in the morning, and my command of history is kinda rough right now. I can tell you though, that all three characters come from Oh! My Goddess, also known as Ah! Megami Sama, a japanese manga that's been around for years.

Urd, in this story, is based off of the way a friend of mine portrayed her, and is not entirely accurate to the manga character in terms of personality. The character is based off of how she interacted with Mato in a never published storyline, but Urd herself references this shared past herself in the fic when I first introduced her, waaay back in chapter, what, seven?

Skuld also, is not entirely based on just the manga character, she's actually based on the Skuld from the unpublished storyline. So, to clear this up, Skuld, in my fanfic, is based on the character of another fanfic, who is based on a manga character. Got it? Close enough.

Belldandy doesn't show up as more than a passing mention in the story here, and I'm not sure which version of her I'd want to use if I wrote her in. She is, however, THE sweetest girl anyone could ever meet, even to the point where often foul mouthed Mato watches his tongue around her, believe it or not.

There we go, I think that answers everything. And don't worry about offending me, there's plenty of manga and anime that I've never even HEARD of, let alone read. Oh, if anyone knows where I can buy a copy of MARS, lemmie know, 'kay? I promised a friend that I'd read that, and I'm having a rough time tracking it down in bookstores.

Oh man, just about nine pages, I think it's a new record for me. At this rate, I would have enough written to make an entire book by the time I'm finished writing it.

One last note, I'd like to say that I am open to suggestions for the title of the second half of the duology. Something a bit similar to the first title in meaning, if you can wrangle it. Though, if nobody bothers, whatever, I'll just come up with it myself.


	19. Chapter Eighteen

I'm back.

What more do I need to say?

Mistaken Identity

Chapter Eighteen

I walk a lonely road, the only one that I have ever known...

_Well, this is awkward._ Jerking backwards, Mato narrowly avoided the basketball sized fist as it crashed into the wall directly to the left of where his face had been. Raising his arms over his head, the currently pony-tailed martial artist slammed both fists down on the heavily muscled arm of the bestial Slade, crushing ligaments and flesh. _Very awkward. Kevin's body just doesn't have enough juice to get this job done._

Slade howled in pain, then flung his arm up, taking Mato along with it on a path towards the next level up. The problem was that six inches of reinforced concrete stood between the mortal body and the empty space on the topside.

_Don't get me wrong, there's plenty of magical energy here, gobs of it._ Gripping the black fleshed arm, he arched his back and quickly tucked into a roll, pushing off with his arms. Slade's fist crashed through the concrete a split second after Mato had flipped clear, his- or rather, Kevin's tailbone brushed the ceiling as powered man-made stone rained down. _But magical power isn't what I need. Besides, the channels he runs it through are pitifully narrow, no wonder he has trouble blowing crap up._

Rolling as he struck the ground to break his fall, he threw himself into a dive, landed shoulder first, and came up in a half crouch. _Too bad I'm not sure how to pop back into my own body, I could nuke this guy in a heartbeat._ Glaring at his opponent, Mato sucked in a deep breath, and mentally flicked through his options. _Yeah, this sucks._

Letting out a bellow, Slade lashed out at the portions of the building around him that were still standing, before lowering his head and rushing at the body-swapped martial artist.

"Oy." Shaking his head, Mato watched as Slade rushed him again. _This is taking way too long. Time to get messy._ Frowning, he straightened up, wishing, not for the first time, that he had more options available to him. _God telekinesis would be handy right about now. Wonder if he knows a spell for that? I wonder if Urd knows a spell for that? Also, does Kevin care about this outfit?_

Leaping straight up, Mato flipped over and felt his feet come into contact with the mostly intact ceiling. Flexing his legs to slow the impact down to a more fluid rate, he sank into a crouch, and waited until Slade was almost directly beneath him. "Dipshit." Planting his hands on either side of his feet, he dug bare fingers into the concrete, a mildly difficult task to perform with Kevin's mostly mundane body. Snapping his legs out straight, he bent his arms and arched his body again, whipping his feet down into the back of Slade's skull, one foot a heartbeat behind the other.

The result was instant, Slade's head and upper body was driven down, and off to the side, sending him hurtling down the path Mato had wanted.

Directly into a tangle of steel rebar.

The shafts of metal were about as big around as a quarter, and jutted out from their resting place within the concrete walls like a thicket of spears. Slade's mass was far too great for even his impressive muscles to overcome the considerable momentum he had built up. Dull grey steel, covered in bone white dust, lanced into his flesh and penetrated out the other side of his torso covered in deep purple ichor.

Still clinging to the ceiling, Mato glanced back over his shoulder for a moment, before flipping himself back upside-down, pressing his feet against the rough concrete. "Ouch, that's gotta sting." The corner of his mouth twitched. He didn't like having to resort to this sort of thing, using something other than his own muscles. True, he _did_ often use this tactic, but when he did, it was always by choice.

He felt weak, and a little ashamed to be thinking so little of Kevin's body like that. _Eh, I'll buy him an ice cream cone or something._ Letting out a sigh, he rolled his neck from side to side, trying to work out some of the tension that had built up in his upper back.

Letting out a snuffling gurgle, Slade wrenched his body free of the uneven spikes that had pierced his torso, the metal sliding free of his flesh with a series of sucking slurps. Dark blood and yellow tinged bile wept from the wounds covering his chest and stomach, but the deep snarl he let out revealed that Slade still had plenty of fight left in him.

"Aw fuck, c'mon already asshole! I don't have all goddamn night to be screwing around with you! I've got shit to do!" Tearing two large chunks of concrete from the ceiling, he hauled them back over his head and snapped his body forwards, whipping the rough projectiles at the wounded beast.

With a stuttering growl, Slade batted one chunk away as if it were merely a poorly inflated ball. The second object crashed into his shoulder, and broke apart as if it were made out of sand. Letting out a howl, Slade reached back, and closed his massive fingers around a support pillar.

"Oh, you've _got_ to be kidding me." Mato dropped towards the floor head first, he had given up his handholds to make that last attack, and now it looked like he was about to pay for it.

Ripping the stone and metal pillar apart with a few sharp jerks, Slade rushed at Mato, swinging the improvised weapon like a huge club.

"Figures." Sighing, Mato crossed his arms in front of himself, protecting his face and chest from the oncoming blow. Falling as he had been, and without his own body, there was no way he could avoid this strike. _This one is gonna hurt._

-

Kevin was eating melon. A thick slice of particularly juicy watermelon to be exact, and he didn't know why. "Why am I eating watermelon?" It didn't strike him as wrong, even considering his current situation, just odd.

"Why not? Would you rather be eating an orange?"

And suddenly, Kevin _was_ eating an orange, a very tart one at that. Too tart. "Ick."

"Sour? How about a pear instead?"

The pear he could stomach, though he wondered where the taste of the orange had gone to. It had been the kind of flavor that liked to linger in a corner of your mouth, or under your tongue. "Uh, thanks, I think."

"You're welcome, I think."

"Um..."

"Yeah?"

"Why do you look like that?"

"Why not? Should I look like something else?"

"Well, no, not really, no. It's just..." Kevin probed his mind for the right words to use. They didn't come easily. "You look really... Well, saintly, I guess."

"Flattery will get you nothing. I expect flowers first."

"Right."

"So, the real question on your mind isn't why I look like this."

"Yeah..." Something nagged at the side of his head, right around his temple. "It's what you _don't_ look like."

"I'm a god. I can do what I want."

"I guess." Thinking for a moment, Kevin leaned forward. "Am I going to remember any of this?"

"No, that would make for some awkward situations."

"Oh." Setting down the pear, he licked the sweet nectar from his fingers. It was nothing more than a meaningless gesture from where he sat, but a comforting one. To him, at least.

All around him was an infinite and featureless white void, empty, save for himself, and the god he spoke to.

And the pear.

That struck him both as a little odd, and somehow significant. "Um." Sitting upright, Kevin folded his hands in his lap. "Since you're a god..." He trailed off for a moment, unsure if he could actually make requests of a divine being. _Worth a shot._ "Since you're a god, could I see my dad again?"

"No, sorry."

Inwardly, Kevin sagged, he had the feeling that would have been the case. "Why not?"

"Because I'm not the god of Death, or the Afterlife."

"What are you a god of then?"

"Well, my great grandfather is the god of Chaos. I'm the only other one in the family line to ascend to this scope of being, so I should have a name that is both title and function."

"You mean you don't?"

"No. I was crafted by the Mother of us all, for a very specific purpose. In making my own path, I both achieved, and failed her expectations."

"That's actually possible?"

"Dumb question."

"Right, sorry."

"Don't worry about it."

"So, what title do you use then?"

"Bringer of Order through Chaos."

"How does that work?"

"It's a very messy process."

"With a name like that, I'll bet."

"You have no idea."

There was a long pause. It seemed to go on and on, and suddenly, Kevin realized, the pause was there because he _thought_ it should be there.

"Subjective reality."

_Oh._ Kevin's brow furrowed. _I didn't say that out loud._

"I know."

"Ok, that's creepy." Frowning, Kevin eyed the pear again. "Why am I here anyway?"

"Because right now, someone's borrowing your body."

"Oh... Am I going to get it back in one piece?"

"If you're lucky, you will."

"And if I'm not?"

-

Swinging along, some forty-five feet above the Bronx, the Spectacular Spiderman pondered his future. It seemed a little bleak to him at the moment.

Just last night, he had not only been battered around like a stuffed animal several times, he also had the grim pleasure of watching Dr. Octavious go to a watery grave, right after he had regained his humanity. It was a chilling realization that would haunt Peter for the rest of his life.

And on top of that, he had finally confessed his love for Mary Jane.

On any other day, that would have made his life just perfect. Except a few minutes later, he also announced to her why he could _never_ be with her. Not as Peter Parker, not as Spiderman, not ever.

He was still tired, sore, and tangled up inside of himself six ways from sunday. But somebody had to swing around New York city in the middle of the night, in a skintight, very thin and not very warm gaudy outfit on strands of hardened organic fluid no thicker than three or four pieces of string.

_I should really call David Copperfield and ask him if he'd take over on weekends._

Firing a line at the edge of a twelfth story ledge, he let momentum carry him around the corner of an apartment building, feeling a twinge in his gut. He still hadn't fully recovered from the half dozen beatings he had been on the wrong end of this past week, but he'd make do.

A familiar tingling sensation crawled around the back of his head. _What-_

Looking around, he could feel the tingling increase as he turned to glance over his shoulder, back the way he came. _There._ He could feel the source of some impending _something_ coming from an abandoned building eight blocks back. _Deja vu. Haven't I done this exact thing sometime before?_

There was a sharp crack that shook the ground for hundreds of feet, as the side of the building seemed to blow itself out, sending a rain of concrete, metal, and glass down into the street. He could feel the shockwave travel up his webline.

Holding the webline, he let his momentum carry him around the corner, and into the side of the building. Landing feet first, he clung there for a split second, before reversing his path, launching off like a rocket. The webline shot him around the corner, and he let go at the perfect instant.

People in the streets below looked around, trying to locate the source of the calamity. A few of the more knowledgeable citizens looked up at the night sky, in time to notice a red and blue projectile hurtling down the street. "Hey, look! It's Spiderman!"

If he could have heard them, the cheering would have comforted Peter a little. As it was, the Amazing Spiderman sailed through the air, oblivious to the adoration, towards whatever ever it was that had caused the disturbance.

It was hero time.

-

"Huh... Where am I?"

GUESS

"Erm, it's not tuesday, is it?"

NO

"Then this can't be Tokyo."

GOOD GUESS

"Looks more like a desert to me."

IT IS

"Ok then, why am I here?"

"Oh, right... That."

YES

"Shouldn't I be naked or something?"

NOT IF I CAN HELP IT

"Cute, I didn't think you'd be a comedian."

I HAVE A SENSE OF HUMOR

"And it shows."

NOW, COME WITH ME M- WAIT... WHO ARE YOU?

"Don't you know? You are Dea-"

YOU'RE NOIR?

"Yup."

YOU'RE NOT ON MY LIST

"What?"

YOU WERE, BUT NOW YOU'RE NOT... THIS IS ODD

"No kidding."

WELL, I GUESS YOU'RE OFF THE HOOK THIS TIME

"Really?"

DON'T MAKE A HABBIT OF THIS, I DO HAVE THINGS TO DO

"..."

BESIDES THE JOB

"So, why haven't I met you before?"

CHARMED LIFE?

"Mmm, I doubt that... I wouldn't call what I've been through much of a blessing lately."

CROSSOVER?

"No, they made that a reality show."

THAT'S 'CROSSING OVER'

"Oh, right."

CAMEO APPEARANCE?

"Works for me."

-

Groaning, he hauled himself back upright, ignoring the sensation of having a skull filled with soup instead of brain matter. Sucking in a breath, he grunted, expelling whatever oxygen had attempted to fill his lungs. It felt like a bus had slammed into his chest, right after the missile had finished working him over. _Ugh, no... I've been hit by missiles before. This doesn't feel _nearly_ as gentle as that was._

Wrapping an arm about his middle, he looked around, dazed, and more than a little confused. "Where... Oh, yes. Here." Taking small, careful sips of air, he began to stagger down the hallway he found himself in.

"I wish I was dead." Wobbling a little on his feet, he pressed a gloved hand against the rough stonework of the passageway that seemed to stretch on forever.

_No, no I don't... But it's just a little bit comforting to say that._ There was a whisper soft _tik_, the sound of metal brushing against stone. His head lifted a trifle. _That was accidental. Somebody packing something metal strapped to a limb wasn't being careful enough sneaking up on me._

"I can grant your wisssssssh." The voice came from above and behind, dripping with menace and thick ropes of drool.

Jerking around, he flung himself upwards, forcing his torn abs to aid his hips in twisting his lower body around. Lashing out with a foot, he nearly tore a green fleshed arm from it's socket with the first kick. The second kick embedded the booted heel of his other leg into the fanged jaw of whatever it was trying to kill him, shattering it into a mangled wreck of flesh and bone.

The body dropped bonelessly to the floor and lay there, twitching a few times.

Noir hit the floor a half second later, landing on his side in a sprawl that sent waves of agony through his body. A faint cry of pain escaped his torn lips, but he bit it off and forced himself up onto his hands and knees. "The hell you can." Gasping raggedly, he glanced over at the fresh kill.

It was green, covered in mottled skin and scales, and it had a half dozen claws sprouting from the back of each forearm. Whatever it was, it was very dead now.

"Shit, I should've asked it how much farther I had to go." Sighing, he pushed himself back up onto his feet, using the wall to help him back upright. After a moment, he resumed his staggering lope down the empty hallway, increasing his pace after a few seconds. _Gotta hurry, at this rate, I'll be dead before I get to where ever it is I'm going._ Bleeding lips creased into a frown, which made them burn even more.

_I don't think I've got too much time left. How long was I out for anyways? An hour, maybe two, I think. Could be more, could be less, but I'm betting on more._ Pausing for a moment, Noir leaned against the wall, and peeled his mask back from the lower half of his face. Taking a careful breath, he bent nearly double as a fit of hacking wracked his wounded body.

It had been easy enough to escape from his cell. After he had woken up, he had rocked the big cage back and forth until it had come close to the hallway he was currently in. It had been a little more difficult to tear the bars off of one side of the cage, fling himself through the air, and land just barely inside the hallway. The big crappy chain that had held the cage snapped off as he sprawled out on the floor, dropping it into the void. The impact of his landing had knocked him into a different kind of blackness, one he was becoming intimately familiar with.

Forcing the spasms to cease, he took a few rattling breaths, before spewing out a long trail of bloody mucous. _This is... Becoming unbearable. I can't last much longer like this._ Wiping his mouth with back of his hand, he noticed his glove was already stained dark red and grey. _Blood, saliva, and worse._ Tugging his mask back down over his face, he resumed his agonizingly slow trek down the hallway. _It's one thing to think you're dying, it's entirely another to _know_ it._

-

Electricity crackled, and the tang of ozone filled the air. "You bitch!"

Smiling nastily, Urd hacked the blade of lightning through the last shadow spawn. "I'll bet you say that to all the girls." Cupping her hand, she coaxed the sword into the shape of a ball, cocked her arm, and threw the crackling sphere into the minion's chest. She hadn't even bothered to ask his name, she knew his was just a clueless lackey for her twisted sister.

There was a shriek as the orb of energy collided with the man's chest, his body jerked spasmodically as a rush of lethal magic coursed through his body. The smoking corpse thudded onto the floor, and Urd was frowning at the body, tapping her lips with a finger. _What kind of wanna be macho guy screams like a girl?_ Urd's pale green eyes widened as she suddenly realized that it _wasn't_ the man who was screeching like a girl.

Turning, the Goddess darted out of the hallway, and bolted up the stairs. _That was Erika's voice._ Frowning grimly, she cupped her hand, forming a short blade of crackling blue-white lightning. _A short blade works better in tight quarters, another lesson from the combat expert._ Hitting the top of the stairs, Urd threw her shoulder into Erika's half open door. _I'd still prefer the lance though._ Cocking her arm back for a thrust, Urd blinked several times, trying to comprehend what she was seeing.

"You're... Ok?" Glancing down, the second black clad lackey was laying sprawled out on the floor, a tendril of inky black smoke issuing from his lips.

"Um, yeah." Smiling weakly, Erika pulled the covers up higher against her chest. "He just came in here, and dropped dead right in front of me. I guess you got him?"

"Yeah, guess so." Frowning, Urd crouched down to check the body. There wasn't a single mark on him, and it seemed like he had died at the exact same moment the other had. _Some sort of spiritual link maybe? I don't like it... The other one-_

"Urd? Can you um... Get him out of my room now? I'm kind of..." Flushing, Erika trailed off into a mumble. Breaking eye contact with the Goddess, she stared nervously at the pile of clothing sitting on her desk. A pair of red panties sat atop the pile, along with a matching lacy bra.

Jerking her head around, Urd blinked a few more times, before a sly smile curled her lips. "Dressing up for a boy in particular?" Grabbing a fistful of the dead man's shirt, she easily lifted the body up, and began carrying it out of the room. "Could it be a certain fashionably challenged fellow with a pigtail?"

Flushing a bright shade of pink, Erika yanked the covers over her head, freeing an arm to point at the door. "Out!" Clearly, the teen wasn't in the mood for any girl talk right now.

"We'll talk later." Smiling merrily, Urd sauntered out of the room, and kicked the door shut. The instant it closed, her expression died. Lifting the body up to her eye level, she stared at the corpse, trying to unravel the mystery that seemed to surround them on all sides. "Why did you die?" She whispered softly to the limp form she held. She had the feeling that there wouldn't be any answers at all.

-

Ok, first of all, yes, I am very aware that Urd kicked the door shut on the way out of Erika's bedroom, _after_ she had shouldered her way _into_ it in the first place. It's dramatic license, ok?

And I realize that this chapter is kinda dark. Actually, it's easily the darkest one I've written to date.

Now, I've had this sitting on my desktop for a few weeks before christmas, for awhile there, it was just the two parts of dialogue, Kevin's and Noir's. Tonight, I plunked myself down and wrote all the rest.

Feels pretty damn good to get back into the flow of writing after so long struggling with it. I've finally written more on one of the Spiderman characters too. Pretty silly having a fanfic that _claims_ to be based on them, and not even have a Spidey in it, ain't it?

Now, for those of you wondering, I'm gonna do something... Unusual.

I'm gonna come right out and confirm a couple of things for you all. About the _plot_.

I know, I know, it's not like me, but I wanted to go into a little more detail than I did. It just wouldn't read right if I did it in story. Uhh, hmmm... Maybe I should add in a- No, no, nevermind, no. I'll leave you wondering about that for a bit now.

Ok, so, first of all, yes, Kevin is talking to a god, not just having a coma dream or something. God knows, we've done that joke to death by now. About wanting to see his dad, well, you may have already guessed, but just to confirm your suspicions, yes, he is dead. I may or may not touch on that subject again, it depends on how everything else goes.

On to Noir. Simple really, I'll bet you've figured it out. He's talking to Death. For those of you who're interested, or are fans, it's not just any Death.

It's Death from Discworld. Awesome novels if you haven't read them. I highly suggest you pop over to wikipedia and read up on them a little. Hilarious stuff. I'd like to think that I got the character just about perfect, but then, I am oh so very humble.

Review reply!

SushiiSquirrel - Yeah, gold stickers rock. Glad you liked the chapter, but, eek, did I actually start making sense? I'll have to watch myself in the future. Don't worry about stuff, better to get a late review, than none at all...

AHEM, I'm looking at you, the four hundred plus people who hit my fic and didn't leave a damn review.

GLARE

Er, where was I? Oh! Glad you enjoy Mato, he seems to have a few people who'd like to pound his butt into the ground... Wonder why? And your favorite character too? Awesome.

I'm gonna answer your other question with a bit of talking, and then a question or two of my own.

Ahem.

Given that we've seen that Noir and Mato are in separate dimensions, and that both Urd and Skuld treat them as different people, how could they be the same person? On the other hand, they act a bit similar, don't they? I'll say this though, they're not long lost brothers, or anything like that.

Here's something that might make your head hurt, there are at least three different Spidermen in my fic... But I've only shown two, right? Where'd the third one go?

And lastly, yes, the n00bs deserve both our pity, and our mocking laughter.

According to an accidental bit of research I did, the average novel is somewhere around ninety thousand words long.

I'm up to over fifty thousand.

So much more writing to do, gah.


	20. Chapter Nineteen

Music credits, Savin' me by Nickleback, and Holding out for a hero by Bonnie Tyler, simply because it's way more campy than the all too dramatic remix by Frou Frou. And campy is good when you're going for a chuckle. Popcorn joke care of Men in Black, just so you know, I have no idea how the rest of it goes, blame the movie, not me.

Mistaken Identity

Chapter Nineteen

Stay with me, stay with me, for tonight you'd better stay with me...

Dust slowly sank to the to the floor in a roiling cloud. The thick, velvety silence was broken by the dull clatter of broken masonry raining onto the debris covered floor. Slightly blunted by the fine powder in the air, and the staccato thunking of concrete, music drifted through the air.

_Where have all the good men gone, and where are all the gods? Where's the street-wise Hercules, to fight the rising odds? Isn't there a white knight upon a fiery steed? Late at night I toss and I turn and dream of what I need._

_I need a hero. I'm holding on for a hero 'til- _**Click.**

"Ugh, worst, time, _ever_ for that song..." Letting out a feeble groan, a frail and battered teen struggled to force himself upright, and collapsed back with another groan. "Oh yeah, shattered spine... Just what I needed, I-" Cocking his head, Mato realized that he hadn't turned off the radio, but merely switched it to another station.

_-Iron bars can't hold my soul in. All I need is you. Come, please, I'm callin'. And oh I scream for you. Hurry, I'm fallin', I'm fallin'..._

Letting out another groan, he shoved against the ground, willing the flesh encompassing his soul to move. Squeezing his eyes shut, gritting his teeth against the pain, he pushed with everything he had. There was a steel girder across his thighs, and red stained the path he had traced when he had flown through the store's wall and crashed into the display racks. "Stupid motivational music..."

_Show me what it's like, to be the last one standin'... And teach me wrong from right, and I'll show you what I can be. And say it for me, say it to me... And I'll leave this life behind me. _

"Huurrgghhh..." Steel groaned as he continued to push his way upwards, ignoring the tearing squeal of metal against metal. Letting out a guttural growl, he gave a final heave, shoving the girder and the two ton slab of concrete it was embedded in off of his legs. Swaying into a standing position, he gasped raggedly for air, trying to quench the burning in his lungs.

_Say it if it's worth savin' me._

"I'll save myself... Even if nobody says it's worth it." Straightening up, he looked back through the hole in the building's wall, and lurched forwards, launching himself into a run, throwing himself outside, and back into the fight.

The radio continued to softly play in the ruined, empty shell of a building, it's echoes fading out into the dim grey fog of dust.

A pair of slender fingers clicked off the volume knob with a dry snap. A pair of round, gleaming eyes stared at the swirls of dust that had been disturbed by Mato's flight through the air. "It is..." Turning, whatever it was vanished into the darkness, leaving behind only footprints in the dust that nobody saw, and softly whispered words that nobody heard.

"It is worth saving you."

-

"So the lady turns to her husband and says _honey, this one's eating my popcorn._"

Letting out a mouthful of saliva and a fierce bellow, Slade brought the massive column he was using for a club down on the Amazing Spiderman's head. Slade's other arm was holding his middle, trying to stem the steady tide of yellow bile mixed with dark purple blood that leaked from his gut.

Diving to the side, Peter launched himself backwards, flipped heels over head, and thumped into the side of a moving van on all fours. "So you've heard that one before then." Pushing himself back onto his haunches, he pointed both hands at Slade, and fired off a wide spray of webbing, affixing the beast to the street. "That should plug up that nasty hole you've got there, and pin you to the road too. Oops, guess I got carried away."

With a yank, and a rubbery tearing noise, Slade tore himself free of the ground, and hefted his club, hurling it end over end at the costumed hero.

"Uh-oh." Flipping back to set his hands on the van's roof, Peter flexed his arms and vaulted up and back, bringing his feet into contact with the building behind the van. The huge projectile sank into the side of the van like it was made of soft cheese, crumpling the frame. "I'm not paying for that."

Letting out another bellow, Slade sunk his arm into the road, tearing up a chunk of concrete the size of a small bus with his thick, burly fingers, and tossed it at Spiderman.

A warning blazed into the back of his brain, and Parker turned his head a fraction of an inch, catching sight of a terrified couple clutching each other for dear life. Unluckily, they were just a few feet behind him, in the apartment building he was adhering to. Gritting his teeth, he tensed his body, and held up his hands to catch the manmade boulder. _This is going to hurt, as usu- huh?_

There was a terrific crash, and the concrete burst into a cloud of dust, obscuring Spiderman, the couple, and a fair portion of the building. Watching for a moment, Slade pressed both hands against his stomach, trying to keep himself from bleeding out.

"**That was a mistake.**"

Jerking his gaze up from his gut, Slade stared at the slowly settling cloud of haze. The voice sounded, _inhuman_, nothing like the last three pests he had delt with. Something within the cloud was making the dust waft in an unusual way, blowing it out from the center, and making a soft wooshing noise every few seconds.

"**It's been too long since I had a chance to enjoy the air, and you've ruined that with all this dust.**"

As the cloud cleared, a flicker of yellow darted out, landing on what was left of the moving van. "**It falls to me to stop you, and I shall.**" The figure stood, and brushed itself off.

Tall, dark hair bound in a pigtail, an outdated bright yellow tunic and black pants with various slashes and bloodstains. The very one Slade's mistress had ordered him to slay. Letting out a guttural growl, he started forward. "I killed you."

"Woah, that thing can talk?" Still clinging to the building, Spiderman extended his legs fully, standing up on the untouched building's side. _There's a shocker. Didn't see that one coming._

Rolling his shoulders, Mato shook his head. "**No, you didn't.**" A pair of white, almost glaringly so, wings extended from his back and began folding around his body. "**You tried to kill this body, and failed, despite the great effort you went to.**" The wings completely obscured him for a moment then swept back, sending a rush of air over Slade, making him stagger back a step.

"**Now.**" Gone was the garish tunic, instead, loose white robes fluttered in the breeze created by the figure's slowly flexing wings. Long lavender hair lapped at his bare heels, as the figure landed in the street a dozen feet away from Slade. "**I am Seraph.**" Extending a hand, he pointed a finger at Slade. "**For your crimes, you will die.**" Stepping forward, he let his arm drop. "**As for your mistress, Skuld will stand trial, for treason against the kingdom of Heaven.**"

Sputtering, Slade felt ice rush through his veins. His mistress had never warned him that an Angel would come to oppose them, let alone a Seraphim. Fire burned through his middle, and Slade shook his head. _No, I am stronger. The gifts my mistress gave me are more than enough to stop anyone. I will win._ Letting out a bellow of challenge, he cocked back an arm, and rushed forward, slamming his fist into the so-called angel's face.

Wincing in sympathy as the crack of bone meeting bone echoed down the streets, Spiderman crouched, preparing to leap down to the rescue. At least, he _ment_ to do that. "No way..." Instead, he stared, slackjawed in surprise.

"**Have you finished?**" Tilting his head, making Slade's entire arm turn with it, he stared impassively with one grey rimmed eye. "**If you are holding back, now is your chance to correct that mistake.**"

Eyes widening, Slade cocked his arm back again for another blow, and suddenly flew to the side, crashing into a parked convertible, turning it into a crumpled ruin of metal and glass.

"You SONOVABITCH!" Hefting the half a telephone pole he held over his shoulder, Kevin, or rather, his body under Mato's control, stomped towards Slade. "I'm gonna rip your friggin' head off, and feed it to your ass!" Halting, he turned and jabbed a finger at Seraph. "And you. Gimmie back my goddamn body."

"This... Is very confusing." Resting an elbow on his knee, Spiderman propped his chin on his fist, watching the two standing in the street. "I'll bet this is what chopped liver feels like."

-

"Eh?" Jerking her head up, Urd turned away from the body she was examining, her eyes irresistibly drawn to the open window. A soft breeze ruffled the linen curtains bracketing the frame, letting in the scent of freshly cut grass, and the sound of crickets.

In the sky, far above, a faint ball of reddish purple was inching alongside the moon, beginning to blot out its soft silvery light.

"Th-that's not good." The glass vial she had been holding slipped from her fingers, and shattered on the hardwood floor, sharp fragments brushing against her bare feet.

Silently, Urd stared out the window, watching the object as it slowly grew larger.

-

"I said gimmie my friggin' body back!"

""

"Don't give me any of that divine 'holier than thou' staring bullshit! Gimmie!" Hefting the half a telephone pole, Mato whipped it around, and slammed it into the pavement. A wave of concrete burst from the ground not two feet from the Seraphim's side, knocking Slade off of his feet, and ruining his chances of getting any closer for the moment.

"**... No.**" Drawing his arm back, he brought his fist down on the pavement, shattering the street like it was fine china. A massive ripple flowed out for a dozen feet before the cement exploded outwards, sending Mato flying back like an errant scrap of paper.

Tumbling to a halt, Mato brought up a hand, made a fist, and coughed into it. "Bit dusty today... Such a stupid in-joke too." Sighing, he stood up, and glanced down at what remained of the telephone pole he had held.

Kindling.

"Wow. My body kicks so much more ass when I'm watching it from the other end of my fists." The scrap of wood made a hollow sound as it clattered to the ground. "Sadly, this isn't bravado when I say there's no chance I can beat you." Sighing, he brushed off his tattered clothing. "I'm really boned here, royally so... Ah well." Smirking, he darted forward, cocking an arm back. "I'm still gonna fight!"

Stepping back from the blow, Seraph, brought his hand up, snapping his fist into the space where Mato's face would soon be. "**You don't stand a chance, yet you still attack?**"

Brushing away the punch with the back of his hand, he slammed his other fist into the crook of the Angel's arm, twisting his hips to add extra force, and deform the elbow joint. "Yup." Flicking Seraph's still extended arm away, he continued his spin, and backfisted his temple. "I'm stubborn that way."

Frowning, Seraph simply stood there, absorbing the blows as if they were nothing to him. "**Brave words, for someone who has already lost the fight.**" He cocked back an arm.

"Yup!" Smirking, Mato retracted his fist, half stepping back as he crossed his arm over his chest. "I'm just badass all around!" Jerking forward, he slammed his fist into the Angel's chest, making him stagger back a step.

**_That was stronger than the first blow. How?_** Regaining his footing, Seraph began moving forward, driving his arm at Mato's face. It was inconceivable that this frail mortal shell could be exerting such strength, even if it was possessed by an older mind.

Weaving around the punch, Mato flexed his knees, and drove his fist into the robed man's middle, causing him to double over from the sudden torque of the blow. Twisting around, he arched his spine, and snapped the elbow of his other arm into the back of his head, forcing the immortal to his knees. "Let's face it, I've been fighting and practicing martial arts my entire life." Smirking, he tensed his knees, preparing to throw himself into the air. "Whereas you, you're a bible thumping pu- eh?"

"**... Why the pause?**"

"Um..." Still assuming a limbo-esque pose, Mato pointed up into the sky. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't this world only have one moon right up until ten minutes ago?"

"" Seraph tilted his head back as he stood up, frowning at the purplish red orb that was nearing the size of the moon it was drawing alongside.

"... Well, that ain't right."

-

"Erika, get up now!" Storming into the Devonshire's room, Urd snapped on the lights, and began rifling through the girl's drawers.

"Muh? Wuh? Buh?" Blinking sleepily, Erika sat up, her hair and brain still muzzy. "Hot guy?"

Frowning, Urd tossed a pair of jeans at the girl. "You sound just like Mato." Digging around for a moment, she tossed the rest of a mismatched outfit over her shoulder at her. "Worry about the wet dream later."

"Eek." Flushing, Erika hunched up under the covers, now well and fully awake, and blushing to drive a tomato to shame. "H-h-how?" Jumping out of bed, she hauled the pants off of her shoulder, and began getting dressed. "What's going on?"

Urd paused for a moment in her frantic ransacking of the girl's room.

"Urd? What-"

"Your world is about to end."

-

"**We still have yet to finish our fight.**"

"Well hell, you've just picked up all sorts of bad habits from carting around inside me serving as my soul, haven't you?" Smirking, Mato shook his hands out, then balled them up into fists, holding them up at chest height in a rigid fighting stance. "I dunno, and I don't care, I've no time to figure out your reasons."

"**My reasons are-**"

"Sorry, no time for insight!" Rushing forward, Mato dropped his shoulder, dipped below the counter blow the Angel was directing at his chest, and slapped the man in the sternum with his palm. "Emergency ejection! Mato style martial exorcism!" There was a rush of displaced air, and Seraph, a shocked look on his pale face, began falling backwards. "Step two! Your ugly, demonic ass!"

Slade, who had regained his feet, and a large chunk of building, was rushing towards the pair.

Smirking, Mato lept backwards, narrowly avoiding the first wild strike. "Too slow!" Another mad rush, and Mato lept backwards, and a little to the side. "Not even friggin' close!"

Letting out a bestial howl, Slade began laying about him with the building slab like a beast possessed, tearing great rents in the already battletorn streets.

Whipping around in a blurringly fast series of backward hops, Mato noticed that Seraph was just about to hit the pavement. _Heh, yup, nothing gets my blood running like fighting as the underdog. The Ransen steppu is done, time to go to work._ Smirking, he brought his hand around in a flowing, elegant sort of sweeping gesture. "HIRYU-"

Letting out another howl, Slade lept into the air, dragging the angular, ragged corner of an abandoned department store with him. _Die die die diediediedie!_

"SHOTEN-" Another elegant sweeping gesture, and Mato brought one arm, bent at the elbow, up alongside his head. His other arm was down low, fist clenched at his hip.

Time seemed to drag.

The air rippled, and distorted around both Mato and Slade.

The misshapen man-beast, twisted by Skuld's unstable magics, began his downward arc.

Seraph finally crumpled to the ground.

Shifting his weight, Mato brought his fist up, his entire arm blurring as it dragged through the air. "HAAA!"

There was a flicker of light, and the world around the two seemed to explode. The air for a dozen blocks rushed inward to fill the sudden gap created by the suction of a mile high cyclone.

**_The flying dragon ascension wave. Not a surprise, it's the only move that results in utter destruction, no matter how weak the body of the user may be._** Seraph smiled faintly, as the body of Slade was whipped into the sky, ravaged by the fierce winds. **_And to be brushed aside like that... He made that technique up on the spot to banish me. I should feel insulted, but no one else could have done that in this situation._**

_**Kami-sama... I no longer question why you bonded me with such a person.**_

Seraph closed his eyes, feeling his body coming apart, being pulled back inwards.

_**You made the right choice to bring him back.**_

-

Everything was a blur, and his body throbbed horribly, as if somebody had worked him over with an oil drum. "Ughn... What hit me?"

"The first time, or the fifth time?"

"Huh? I don't... What?" Blinking heavy eyelids, he forced his eyes to focus on the blur that swam through his vision. Staring at the face before him, he squinted, trying to make sense of what he saw. "Where did the mirror come from?"

"Wow, I _really_ kicked your ass. My ass... _His-_ Aw forget it!" Throwing his arms into the air, Kevin turned away and looked at the ruined buildings surrounding them. "Shit... I think I went a little overboard there... 'Ey! Spidey! You found anything yet?"

A red and blue blur flew overhead, turning as it sailed past to look down at the pair. "Nothing yet. You sure there's gonna be people coming after you?"

"Oh yeah, like Skuld would blow this chance to make sure she finishes me off. Trust me, worse crap is gonna happen before the planet blows up."

"Oh, right. 'Kay, I'll keep looking." Completing his spin, the Spectacular Spiderman fired off a webline, and swung over the remains of an apartment building. His instinct screamed at him to get down there and search for survivors, but the fact that the world was about to end chilled the feeling down to a numb sort of horror. Saving the only people who could stop countless lives from being snuffed out came first. _This is one of those days that's going to haunt me for the rest of my life._

"What's going on?" Kevin forced himself to sit up, ignoring the tearing feeling sweeping through his chest. "What happened?"

"Ok, first things first, get outta my friggin' body, before your soul ends up being shredded like tissue in a monsoon." Kevin stared, feeling dread build in the pit of his stomach as he- himself, his own body walked back and stood over him. "Oh don't be such a dipshit, of _course_ I'm in your body. How the hell else was I supposed to fight that ass, ghost power?"

"O-oh, right... So, that was you then?"

"That was me what then?" Mato frowned, tilting his head to the side, one fist planted on his hip.

"The voice I heard." _This is getting so creepy, it's like having an evil twin or something._

"What? You gotta concussion or something? I was out here in your scrawny body, fightin' dingus the minotaur dumbass. How the hell could I be talkin' to you when I was doing that?" One eyelid lowered as he scowled at Kevin, like he was being particularly dense.

"Maybe I dreamed it then." Kevin tried to stand, but only managed a gasp of pain. Clutching at his chest with one hand, he used the other to keep himself from falling over, the whole world seemed like it was spinning a million miles a minute around him. "Ugh... This really hurts."

"Well _duh_. You think I just _let_ people possess my body?" Snorting, Mato walked over and crouched down infront of Kevin. "If you don't hurry your ass up, you're gonna know what it's like to have your very soul ripped to shreds and absorbed." Resting an elbow on his knee, he pressed a fist into his cheek. "I'm serious, you're walking the line of death here."

Kevin felt his blood run cold. "H-how do I get out?" He clawed as his cheek, feeling nothing. Not his face, not his hand, no jab of pain from his nails raking bare flesh. "I can't feel anything!"

"Oh stop panicking, ya big wuss." Reaching over, he casually slapped Kevin across the face. "Just close your eyes." Sighing, he shook his head, and covered the boy's face with his hand. "Tsh, baby."

Obeying, Kevin listened to his heart hammering in his ears, deep and rapid, like a half dozen people banging away on a big kettle drum. After a moment, he felt a pinch along his sides, and the noise changed. _Wha-_ It was softer now, though no less rapid. "I... Ngghh." Folding over, Kevin hugged his middle, gritting his teeth. "Oh god. It feels like somebody tore my insides out."

"Well, yeah. You do have seven broken ribs." Opening his eyes, Kevin found himself kneeling over Mato, who was giving him a sour look. "Could you please get off of me? I don't usually enjoy teenaged boys straddling my lap." Flushing, Kevin jumped to his feet, and felt the world spin as his insides burned.

"Woah woah woah." Standing up in a single movement, Mato grabbed Kevin by the collar and held him up. "Broken ribs, remember? Try not to let your homophobia puncture your lungs." Brushing the boy's hands away from his sides, he gently ran his fingertips over his ribs. "Broken, broken, broke, busted, snapped, made like a twig, doing an impression of glass, and- Oh-ho!" Grinning like the Cheshire cat, Mato leaned close. "Seven broken ribs, and one cracked rib. My my, aren't we the warrior child?" There was a faint greenish glow for a moment that lit up Mato's face, highlighting his nose and cheekbones, making him look fairly ghoulish.

"Am I gonna die?" Visions of graves and tombstones flashed through Kevin's mind. "People can bleed out in minutes from internal bleeding." Mato cocked back an arm, and smirked. "Wait! No no no no don-" And slapped his hand down on Kevin's side. "Ow! That hurt, you fu-" Kevin's eyes widened. "Hey, I'm not coughing up buckets of blood!"

"What're you, a pirate?" Releasing the boy's shirt, Mato turned away and stuffed his hands in his pockets. A pair of vertical rips adorned the back of his bright yellow tunic, revealing pale bare flesh beneath. "Little chilly tonight, least it's not raining though." Tilting his head back to look up at the sky, he turned around at a sudden thump coming from behind. "Wh- oh you dumbass." Reaching down, he picked Kevin up by his collar again. "You forget how to stand on your own?"

"No, I just didn't expect you to drop me on my _ass._" Grumbling, Kevin brushed off his behind. "What's the noise?" He looked up and around. "Sounds like a helicopter or something. Think the cops are coming to check it out?"

"Nah, not after the freak tornado." Smirking, Mato began looking around too. "Besides, it's too high pitched. And something smells like it's burning." Pinpointing the direction the sound was coming from, he glanced to the side as the object came into view.

There was a screech of tires against broken ashphalt, and a throaty engine roared as the motorcycle skidded to a halt. This was no ordinary bike though. Flames wreathed it's tires, and the head of the figure riding it.

"Wow." Kevin stared. Being an impressionable youth, he was impressed by the, to him, utter coolness of simply riding a motorcycle. And the fire helped a little too.

Dressed in black leather with metal spikes jutting out of it's arms and shoulders, the biker slid off his hellcycle, heavy boots thudding against the pavement. Lifting an arm, he pointed a gloved finger at the pair standing in the street, bright orange flames licking his bare skull.

"**_Let the boy go._**"

Mato stared for a moment. "Ok, that's a new one on me."

-

Well, that's one more down, and the last chapter to go. To be honest, I was gonna cop out and post this thing at page five, but I slept on it, and, well... You can see how a little rest goes a long way to getting stuff done.

On a side note, I am yet again fighting off illness. Unlike you mere mortals, I barely show any symptoms, other than blowing my nose once or twice an hour. Mwahaha. Though, I do need an extra four hours of sleep a day, stupid downsides.

Ok, humor aside, I'm just about ready to get started on the final chapter. I'm still drawing a blank on the title for the second half. I really don't want to cop out and call it Mistaken Identity again, and just have a subtitle, but I may have to, ugh.

So I'm gonna be picking everything I can for an idea. I'm not gonna start writing anything after the next chapter until I have that damn title figured out.

Writing in my head doesn't count though, I do that all the time. Uh, so, yeah, I have two pages of 'mental text' for the next chapter already done up, eh heh. Only time will tell if I get it down or not.

Yeah, flaming skull biker is Ghost Rider. I added him in after I saw the new movie, and I figured it would be kinda neat to have it set in the Spiderman movie-verse. I did, however, have the 'ghost power' joke written in before I saw the movie.

So, uh, since I can't think of much to put in here, I'll drop a few hints about the finale.

Skuld and Noir will have their final clash.

Mary Jane will die, that is a promise.

You'll get to find out just what Urd plans to do about that huge thing in the sky.

You'll get to see just how sociopathic one of the main characters really is.

Witness the fate of the missing X-men.

Can I possibly use any more cliched lines? Tune in and see, same confusing time, same confusing channel.

Boy, do I need to get a theme song for all these bad jokes of mine, I mean, closing notes. Frankly, I know for a fact that I've left out a few things, and some plot elements have just vanished from the face of the earth.

But then, that's my signature, isn't it? It keeps you coming back for more, just hoping that I'll explain all this junk.


	21. Chapter Twenty, and The End

Disclaimer:I don't own 'Wings' Noriyuki Iwadare does. Lucky him. Moving on.

Well, here it is. The final chapter of Mistaken Identity. I've got quite a few loose ends to tie up before I finish, I hope I can actually remember them all. Y'know, I'll probably think of more to say after I finish the second page, so think of this as an intro in progress, _of_ my progress. Heh.

New addition, this stuff takes way too long when life is in the way. On the plus side, I've finally decided on the new title, so I can just keep rolling on. If I can only get adjusted to this new keyboard, I'll be as good as gold.

Ok, so, I stayed up all night writing about five or six pages worth of stuff, and I'm _still_ not used to this new keyboard. If any of you own a roll up keyboard, you know where I'm coming from. It requires a much firmer depress to hit the keys properly, so my hands are tired.

I'd better get mucho del la gratitude for this one.

... Yeah, right.

Mistaken Identity

Chapter Twenty

The beginning of the end, or the end of the beginning?

"**Let the boy go.**" The leather clad demonic biker began walking towards the pair standing in the ruined street. Clearly, he felt that the situation warranted a little attention, unlike the two just hanging about.

"...Mmmm, nah. He'll just fall on his ass again." Grinning, Mato released Kevin's collar, then gave him a little shove, sending the teen onto his backside once again. "See?"

From his vantage point on the ground, Kevin figured he had a nice angle to chuck a fireball at Mato's head. _Miserable bastard._ Grumbling, Kevin was just rolling onto his side, when the biker slammed into said bastard, flames wreathing them both. _Crap, that would've toasted me... Dammit, I owe him one now, don't I?_

"**Look into my eyes, see the suffering you've caused.**" The biker shoved his flame licked skull up against the man's face, his eye sockets taking on an infinite depth, rimmed with terror and agony. This man would burn in his own personal hell, a torment of his own making.

"... I'm not seeing anything, except a _burning_ need for a bit of visene." Grinning, Mato grabbed the bikers gloved wrists and began pulling his hands away from his shirt. "Frankly, I really don't have time to be playing around with you." Lifting the demonic tool of vengeance up by his arms, his cheerful expression hardened. "And the last thing I need, is for you to be reminding me of my past, thank you very much."

Seemingly unfazed by this small display of strength and immunity to his penance stare, the Ghost Rider flexed his arms, hauling himself down closer to Mato's face. "**Then I'll send you to Hell myself, Demon.**"

"Tsh." Shoving the skeleton biker upwards, Mato dropped to the street, hauling the Ghost Rider down with him. "The hell you will." Rolling backwards, he slammed his heels into the biker's chest and flexed his legs, sending him flying away, orange flames trailing along in his wake. "Asshole."

"Yee-aahh... Am I supposed to be worried here?" Standing up, Kevin brushed himself off, shooting a glance at Mato as he watched the biker land in an undignified heap, then roll over and get back up. "At all?" _Demon? I thought the guy was a Vampire... Or wait, was he a Mage that had sold his soul to the Devil? Or an alien from a planet that blew up, and his father sent him here to earth to- no wait, that's Superman... Dammit, I can't keep this guy's backstory straight at all!_

"Mmmm, naaah. The guy's just a bit of a punk is all." Glancing down at himself, Mato let out a snort, and flicked a finger at the long strip of fabric that dangled from his shirt. The Ghost Rider hadn't released his hold willingly, and as a result he had torn away the entire front of Mato's shirt, leaving his chest bare from collarbone to stomach. "Dammit. Do ya know how hard it is to get ahold of tunics in this day and age?!"

-

Staggering onward, Noir was vaguely aware of how little blood was dripping from his middle, oozing out from between his fingers. It took him awhile to realize that he had been leaning against something for some time.

Slowly blinking his eyes, he lowered his head, his eyes focusing on the crimson stained trail heading down his outfit, leading to a small pool of red on the otherwise pristine white floor.

Breathing softly, he carefully eased himself up straight, and turned to look at what he had been leaning against.

A skeleton. With metal claws attached to it's arms.

That wasn't quite accurate, but it was the first thing he noticed. It was inside a large glass cylinder roughly ten feet tall, filled with a greenish brine. Running his fingers over the bloody stain that ran across the front of the tube, he stared at his reflection.

His once black and yellow costume was torn, worn, and stained. It was red in some places, brown and discolored yellow in others. He was stooped, battered, and weary, and behind him stood a somewhat reptilian figure that reached for his head with clawed, hook-like fingers.

"Hell..." Jerking to the side, Noir reached back and grabbed whatever it was by the throat, and sharply jerked it down, slamming the thing's face through the glass-like tube. Rills of blood flowed from it's face as he lifted it by the back of it's head, and forced it's throat onto the jagged edges of the broken glass.

Spasming, the monstrosity jerked about and knocked it's limbs against his middle a few times. Flames of pain burned through Noir's body unlike anything he had ever felt before, and a gout of dark blood seeped through his mask. Muffled gagging sounds bubbled through the blood soaked cloth, and he tore the mask from his face.

After several panic filled moments, he wheezed and slumped, half against the broken tube that was spilling water across the floor, half against the thing still pinned to it by the neck like some hideous insect in a collection.

A face loomed close to his, pale and wan, smears of deep crimson covering it's mouth and chin. Dark, sweat stained locks were plastered against a forehead that sported a long gash across it. Brownish green eyes stared deeply into his, and it took Noir several moments to realize that it was himself he was staring at.

Leaning over, he let out a grunt as he felt something slice through his middle, and his numb fingers closed over his mask. Breathing raggedly, he straightened up, and caught the sickening glint of white bone protruding from his side. Ignoring it for the moment, he tore the lower half of his mask away, and set the remainder over his head, shifting it until he could see through the stylized eyes once more.

Carefully pressing his hand against his side, he looped a finger around the bit of bone, to keep his rib from tearing any more of his ragged flesh. Pushing away from the ruined tube and the grey metallic skeleton within, he resumed his dogged pace, heading farther into the complex.

-

"Time to put you on ice flame boy! I'll just- Woulf!" Darting in from above, the Spectacular Spiderman found himself suddenly reversing in direction, bouncing off the pavement once before righting himself in the middle of the street. "Hey! That' hurt you know!" Clutching his tingling middle, he watched as Mato Hibiki snapped his still extended leg around into the Ghost Rider's face. He had barely paused in his attack to casually swat the webbed wall crawler aside like a bug.

Ducking under a series of wild haymakers, Mato backed away from the street, jerking his head to the side just in time to avoid a bony hand that had been arrowing towards his throat. The ivory white remnant of a hand instead closed about a pole supporting a stop sign.

A second later, several inch wide sections of steel pipe fell to the ground, their edges glowing a bright yellow that quickly cooled to soft orange as the stop sign clanged to the sidewalk soon after.

"Uhhh... Disregard." Straightening up, Peter looked around quickly, and let out a soft _ah_ of discovery. "This'll do."

"Y'know, I'm really gettin' sick of wussy guys like you comin' to take me on." Slapping aside a series of grapple attempts, Mato spun around and thumped his elbow into the Ghost Rider's chest, leaning against the skeleton biker for a moment. "Really now... Is every chump in town gonna come to take his shot, or just the weirdo clique tonight?"

Letting out an unearthly growl, the flaming skull's jaw opened as if he were about to say something. Instead, there was a sharp _crack_, and the biker went flying away, skidding across the pavement for a dozen yards before coming to a halt. "Y'see? Mook. _I_ wouldn't have just let some guy walk up and smack me like that."

"Well, to be fair, I saw it on Leno last night." Dropping the remains of the BMW compact that Slade had crushed earlier, Spiderman dusted off his hands. "So... That it? We done?" _Talk about anti climatic._

There was a clatter, and the Ghost Rider stood back up, pushing chunks of stone and broken metal away from himself.

"Whoops! Spoke too soon."

"Can't you just like... Ultra zap him or something? Like you did the huge robot?" Kevin was in the process of patting himself down, checking every single fold and pocket his clothing possessed. _Aw man, no no no no noooo... Crap! All my spell components and arcane foci are gone. Shit! _

"Nah, I'll just show up on Skuld's scopes or whatever like a giant, well, explosion really. I could ju- oh! Heh, yeah, I can do something." Smirking, Mato stuffed his hands into his pockets, and began strolling over to the undead biker demon. As the biker raised a bony fist, Mato ducked his head and lunged forward, striking out with a hand. "Emergency retraction! Mato style, reverse martial exorcism!"

As the braided martial artist's palm slapped into the Ghost Rider's chest, a look of horror washed over it's bare, bony skull. There was a hiss, and a fizzle, and the flame and the spikes seemed to suck back into the body. Said body slumped down onto the pavement, revealing a normal looking man, with close cropped dark hair, and a puzzled expression on his face. "Wh- how did you?"

"Ah, simple." Smirking, Mato straightened up and crossed his arms over his bare chest. "I kick so much ass, it's impossible for me _not_ to do all this shit." Staring at the fellow for a bit, he shrugged, and reached down, holding out a hand to help him up. "Mato Hibiki, _not_ undead, _not_ a ghost, _not_ a friggin' demon, thank you very much." He tugged the older looking man onto his feet. "Hell, I used to be a demon hunter... I have a card here somewhere... Where'd I put it?" He began digging through his pockets.

"Heeeyyy, I know you, Johnny Blaze, right?" Spiderman lept over, clinging to the side of half a telephone pole, still mostly upright, though leaning at a precarious angle. "The extreme stunt biker."

"Spiderman?" Johnny Blaze blinked up at the costumed superhero. "I thought you were just a myth the papers cooked up for the business."

"Says the guy who's _skin_ comes off when he feels like taking an evening ride." Peter sat back on his haunches, seemingly unfazed by his three quarters upside down view of the world from his perch on the underside of the wooden half a post.

"Point taken." Looking back and forth between Spiderman, who was currently upside down, and Mato, who was _still_ checking through his pockets, Johnny blinked a few times. "Wait, so if you're real, and he's not a demon... That girl lied to me then?"

"Yup." Giving his search up as a lost cause, Mato folded his arms behind his head. "That was Skuld, youngest of the Norn sisters, Goddess of the future, blah blah blah blah... Something like four foot eight, pale skin, long dark hair, cute little button nose, and a heart made out of-"

"Coal?" Kevin scooted closer, caught between his hero worship of superhero Spiderman, and his hero worship of totally awesome, extreme stunt biker Johnny Blaze, who it turned out was also a super hero, and one who was on _fire_ and a skeleton biker _demon_ to boot.

"I was gonna say 'pure, unparalleled, evil of the abyss' but yeah, coal works too I guess. Hard to get ahold of bits of the abyss for Frosty's eyes though..."

-

A strident voice drifted down the hallway.

It took him quite a while to reach the end of the hall, and he could dimly remember a time when it would have only taken him mere seconds to cover that space. Friends. He had had friends then too, hadn't he? A dim recollection of lean figures in vibrant colors swam through his thoughts before vanishing in a haze of milky-grey nothingness. It was only then that he realized something important.

"Eh?" Several people arranged in a semi-circle all turned to look at him, noticing that an intruder was in their midst.

For some reason, he felt it was right to share his realization with them. "I've nearly bled out." His eyelids felt like heavy iron weights, dragging down and obscuring his vision.

Movement caught his eye, and he forced his lids back up with some effort. "What?" They were surrounding him, several of them had drawn weapons, others were simply about to smash his face in with their bare hands.

"I said, _you look pitiful_." Grinning like all the world was an oyster, the speaker sauntered over, casually shoving two of his would-be assailants out of her way.

"...Skuld..."

"Yes." Smiling, she held her arms over her head, and performed a little twirl. "How do I look?" She stood around five and a half feet tall, her hair was still long enough to brush against the backs of her thighs, and it was still it's original shade of shining ebony. Her clothes, however, had changed the most. Gone were the overalls she had worn the last few times he had seen her, instead, she wore a long flowing gown of satiny pink and chiffon.

"Much-" He doubled over, coughing until rills of red streamed from his chin to the floor. Wiping his hand across his mouth, he stood up straight again. "Much worse then I do, I think." His bloodstained lips curved into a sardonic smile. "And... That's saying a lot, considering."

Her reaction was an amazing thing, something the likes of which Noir had never seen before. For an instant, her face took on a radiant expression, as if he had said her beauty rivaled that of the sun. Then, that moment passed, and her face twisted into something horrible. The sounds that slipped from her pink tinted lips, were the sounds of an inarticulate fury that words could simply could not measure.

"We're nearly even, I think." Smiling, he held his hands as high above his head as he could manage, and he felt a tearing sensation in his middle. Wincing, he spread his fingers, and let out a startled grunt as he felt something much larger tear through his gut. "Urt." Slowly lowering his head, he stared for a long moment before realizing that something had impaled him. "Oh." Following the object up, he blinked, a trifle surprised. "You've made yourself a spear, have you?"

Slim fingers curled about the metal haft of the lance, it's length inscribed with dazzling blue script the color of sapphire, that shone like sunlight on a clear lake's surface. It's twin barbed head, shaped to resemble a pair of serpents, protruded from his back. "Yes. How do you like it?" Her smile had returned. Clearly, she was eager to hear whatever praise he had for her.

"I liked the hammer better."

Again, a look of twisted rage swept across her face, and she gave the lance a sharp turn, twisting it within his middle.

"Urrkk..." Hardly any blood seeped from the gaping wound in his stomach, and he noted the surprised look on her face. "Id-idiot... I'm already dead." Smiling sadly, he shook his head. "What could you possibly do that's any worse?"

Dumbfounded, Skuld's mouth moved several times, no sound, not a snippy reply, or a sarcastic rejoiner came out. After a moment, she spoke, in a very small voice. "But... But you can't die." Tears welled up in her eyes, and spilled down her cheeks. "You just can't!"

Noir's smile broadened, and the room seemed to grow a little brighter. "Oh, but I can... Don't worry though."

Skuld's head jerked up, a hopeful expression on her tear-stained face. "You'll come back?"

"Oh no. No, not if I can help it." He turned to look at the various minions surrounding them, noting, for the first time, that they were all dressed like him. Except for the wide variations in color, they were all dressed exactly the same as he was. _Doesn't matter now..._ "I'm taking you _all_ with me."

It was then that the little gathering bout him realized what was making the room glow so, a vivid yellow sphere a yard across hung suspended over his head, between his two blood smeared hands.

"Seppuku Shi Shi Hoku Dan!"

-

_And there was a terrible din, of sound and fury, and did his sorrow and his loathing rent the earth in twain. And when it was over, naught stood but the girl, and a corpse suspended by a twin headed spear._

_And lo, there was a terrible cry, as did shake the heavens. Those who were alive to bear witness to it, spoke of a terrible agony that transcended mere physical pain, that did rattle the clouds, and dim the sun._

_It was a sound that stood as a warning to those who stood on high, and did nothing to prevent the horrors wrought by their own._

_And if the world were made of Glass, her cry would have crack'd it from end to end..._

-

"Huh."

"What?" Kevin paused, hand on the doorknob of his front door. Between the two superheros, they had returned to the Devonshire home rather quickly. He was eager to have a shower, and get changed, since his body was in a rather grim state of repair. Actually, that was a lie. His body was in fantastic shape, better than it had ever been, in fact. But his clothes were torn, and stained, and missing _both sleeves_.

"Oh, nothing I guess..." Pressing a hand against his cheek, Mato looked off into the night's sky. "Just thought I heard something is all..." Frowning, he tucked his other hand into his pocket, drifting off into thought. "Must just be that big purple ball of doom in the sky."

"Yeah, about that." Clinging to the doorframe, the Amazing Spiderman crossed his arms over his chest. "How exactly are we supposed to stop something bigger than the moon from crushing us?" _This is quite the pickle. Between me, the wiz kid, the guy with ADD, and the stunt biker superstar, it's gonna be a tough gig._

"I could jump my bike over it." Johnny Blaze mounted the front steps, coming to a halt on the porch. "Wouldn't do much, but it'd be cool."

"It's not."

"Well, it's not a helicopter, but-" Johnny felt a little disappointed to be dismissed in such an offhand manner.

"Oh, not that. I don't get 'cool' at all." Finished rubbing his cheek, Mato tucked his other hand into his empty pocket, turning to look at the group. "It's actually smaller than the moon, it's just getting really close."

"Oh. Well that's not good." Slightly relieved, Johnny reconsidered jumping his bike over it again, descending into mildly amusing thought.

Spiderman shifted, uncrossing his arms and rested his elbows on his knees. "How can you tell?"

"How can you tell what force you need to vault a car thrown at you without going high enough to hit your head on an overpass?" Snorting, Mato moved to stand behind Kevin, who had gone back into hero worship mode once more. "I don't know how I know, I just _do_." He nudged the boy with his elbow. "Kev, open the door." The door swung open quickly. "Nice. Very prompt."

"We have problems." Urd, Goddess of the Past, eldest of the Norn sisters, stood in the doorway looking very flustered.

"... Oh gee, really?" Mato turned to face the two superheros. "Hear that guys? We've got problems. That's a first." He turned back to Urd. "So, what's the prob? Spider in th-"

"Ahem."

"Whoops. Yeah, sorry. Forgot you were there." Smiling sheepishly, Mato rubbed the back of his head.

"Forgot? You were _speaking_ to me." Dropping from the doorframe, Peter crossed his arms over his chest, a little irritated. _Yup, definitely ADD._

"We _have problems_." Having recaptured everyone's attention, Urd swung the door fully open, revealing Erika standing behind her with a large duffel bag over her shoulder, and Urd's potion case i her arms.

"Um..." Erika, for her part, just stood there pop-eyed, staring blankly.

"..." There was a collective pause as all the men standing there stared silently at her, and Urd held her head in her hands. "Yes, he has a chest beneath his shirt, we've seen it before."

Cheeks pink, Erika scuffed the floor with her foot, somewhat hiding her face behind the potion case. "I haven't."

"Yes, good, whatever." Rolling his eyes, Mato reached out and lightly smacked Erika in the forehead. "Stare at someone else." There was another collective pause, as all the _other_ men stared at him, thinking the exact, same, thing.

_Idiot._

"So, you were saying something about problems?"

"The world is about to come to an end." This time, it wasn't a pause, as much as a catching of breath, and stomachs in their respective throats.

It didn't last long. "Yeah, so?" Mato crossed his arms over his chest. "Any _new_ news?"

Stunned for a moment, Urd shook her head, and stepped outside. "We need to get out of here _before_ that happens." Striding down the front steps, she walked out into the middle of the lawn and looked up at the sky. As she spoke, she raised her arms up above her head. "I have a spell that can take us to a safer place, but it will tax this body to it's lim-"

"Nah, don't bother." Putting a hand on Urd's, he lowered her arms back down. "I'll just pop us all outta here, piece of cake." Smiling, he turned his head up to stare at the steadily growing orb that was a magnificent shade of purple.

"You can? But... That level of power is beyond what your current mortal shell can contain. Only divine mag-"

"Heh." He let out a snort, still staring up at the sky. "How do you think I got back the _last time_ you accidentally ripped me off to another world?"

"Hey, wait." Kevin trotted down the stairs, duffelbag over his shoulder. His sister had pawned it off on him once she had realized that his arms were empty. "I know a little about this stuff. With that level of power, between the two of you, you could just blast that thing up there to bits."

"Oh sure, but it'd kill Urd." The way Mato put that, it sounded as if he had mentioned that there was a chance for rain that evening.

"Oh... But, isn't saving millions of people more im..." Kevin trailed off, suddenly on the wrong end of an intense stare from a par of vivid green eyes.

"Actually." Mato looked away from Kevin, back to that world ending object in the sky. "It's more like billions. Something like five or so billion."

"Six." The Sensational Spiderman lept over the porch rail, and landed beside Kevin, patting the teen on the shoulder. "And if you can do it, I think you should." _I know this is asking a lot. It's asking everything, really. What do I say? Is it even right to ask? All those lives... There's no question about what's right. I my have not done the right thing before, but this is why I did that. So these two could save everyone._ "I've learned, that with great po-"

"We're not doing it."

"What?" Stunned, Peter didn't even notice Erika and Johnny Blaze walking up beside him. _How could he... How?_ "Why?"

"Because it'd take way too much energy." Mato ran a hand over his jaw, absently noting that it was free of stubble. _Still don't need to shave... Sigh._ "I wouldn't kill me, but it'd make the next few fights against Skuld kinda rough, and I for one don't need that kind of a hassle."

"You'd let all those people die just because it would inconvenience you?" Everything he had been raised to believe in, honesty, accountability, self sacrifice... This guy just brushed it aside like it was a mere annoyance.

"What have they done for me lately?" Stuffing his hands into his pockets, Mato ignored the shocked stares from both teenagers, as well as the superheros. "I don't remember owing _anyone_ any favors, so don't go acting all hurt on behalf of anyone."

"You... _Monster!_" Lunging forward fist first, Peter Parker was literally overcome with rage. It was inconceivable that anyone could be so utterly apathetic to the plight of an _entire world_.

Pain exploded in his chest as Mato snapped his leg up in a blindingly fast arc, lifting Spiderman bodily from ground without so much as a whisper from his spider sense, before driving him back down, slamming his back into the lawn and ripping the air from his lungs.

"Moron." Pinning Spiderman to the ground with his foot, he snapped his head up to glare at Johnny Storm. "Now don't you go and get any bright ideas, flame brain."

But Storm was already transforming into the Ghost Rider. His flesh peeled back as steel spikes erupted from the leather jacket he wore. Orange flame licked around his bare skull as the hell biker strode towards Mato, pointing a single finger at him. "**Guilty.**"

Pointing a finger back in mockery, Mato pressed his foot down on Spiderman's chest, reminding him that he should stay down. "Idiot." Grabbing the demon by the neck as he drew close, he lifted him off of the ground, holding him just out of arm's reach. "So, you three ready to go or what?"

"Go? Are you kidding?" Kevin was shocked. How could the good guys be fighting at a time like this? "What're you three doing? The world is going to end, and you're all fighting? Are you all stupid?"

"They started it." Upon being glared at by her brother, Erika stuck her tongue out at him. "They did."

Realizing that they had just lost two of their allies, Urd merely shook her head, and held her arms above her head. "_Ye Spirits Of Wind And Change, I Call To You. Answer My Plea And Shift The Fabric Of Reality As I Deem Fit. Remove These Two From This Place, And Send Them Where I Wish._" There was a flicker, as both Spiderman and the Ghost Rider seemed to fade in and out, before completely vanishing.

"Nice." Dusting his hands off, Mato planted his fists against his hips. "Are we all set to go?" He looked over the new group. Two teenagers and a sort of Goddess. _Enh, I've worked with worse._

"Where did you send them?" Erika shifted the potion case in her hands, wishing she had had enough time to pack a backpack with her MP3 player and some comic books.

"Iowa." Dropping her arms to her sides, Urd let out a weary sigh. _That spell took far too much out of me, I'm in no shape to fight at all right now._

"Forget them, what about the planet?" Kevin looked like his insides were about to jump out of his mouth on their own. "All those people..." Squeezing his eyes shut, he balled his hands up into fists. "Can't we do anything? Anything at all?"

"Sure, we'll just ask God to revive them for us." Stepping over behind Urd, Mato wrapped an arm about her middle. "You know where to go, so you do the leading." Motioning to Kevin and Erika with his free hand, he grinned. "C'mere and hang on, it'll be a bumpy ride."

Erika bounced over and threw her arms around Mato's neck without any farther prompting. She wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. "Can't wait to see heaven."

Kevin, on the other hand, was a bit less enthusiastic about it. "And that'll work? He'll just wave his hand and _poof_, everyone's alive again?"

"Tsh, I doubt he'd even need to arch an eyebrow. It is _God_ we're talking about here." Mato tapped his foot in an irritated manner. "You coming or what?"

Walking over, Kevin wrapped an arm around his sister's waist, and the other he threw over Mato's shoulder. "You'd better be right about this."

"Trust me, the guy owes me a couple." Closing his eyes, Mato touched two fingers to his forehead, focusing on the destination in Urd's mind. The reality shift wasn't the problem, it was the ultimate destination that bothered him. _I hate heaven..._

"God owes _you_?"

There was a bright flash of light, and when it faded, there was merely an empty yard, infront of an empty home.

-

Humming quietly to herself, Mary Jane Watson folded up her wedding dress, and began the arduous task of putting the fluffy thing back into it's much too small box. _How did it fit into this thing in the first place?_

Despite the odd task, a bright smile it up the redhead's face, she even felt like singing. After all, the love of her life, confessed his lifelong love to her, and even went as far as saving _her life_, and most of the city too.

"In your dreams, magical thoughts, all things are real unless you dream they're not. In your dreams, love is the thought, ca- arg, is that sign on _again_?" It had taken forever to get the office across the street to turn off their neon sign so that the tenants in her building could sleep at night.

_But that was an orange sign, this light is purple..._ Opening her drapes, Mary Jane let out a gasp at the sight of a massive purple orb crashing into New York City.

-

"Late last night, a meteor the size of Tahiti crashed into the east coast of the United States. For an object of such magnitude, it caused surprisingly little damage. As you can see, the damage was mostly concussive in nature, and though it was significantly stronger than a two thousand megaton nuke, the destruction reached from New York state, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maryland, Delaware, Ohio, Michigan, Maine, New Jersey, southern Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia . Experts in the field are calling this restriction of devastation tantamount to an act of a god, and nothing short of a miracle, as it could have very well wiped life clean from the face of the earth.

Among the dead are astronaut John Jameson, son of publicist J. Jonah Jameson, and one time fiancee of Mary Jane Watson. Miss Watson was scheduled to appear on Broadway, but tragically, was in New York at the time of impact.

The death toll is already estimated at; New York, twenty million. Pennsylvania, fourteen million. Connecticut, four million. Massachusetts, eight million. Vermont, eight hundred thousand. New Hampshire, one point five million. Maryland, six million. Delaware, nine hundred thousand. Ohio, twelve million. Michigan, five million. Maine, four hundred thousand. New Jersey, ten million. Ontario, four million. Quebec, two million. New Brunswick, three hundred thousand. Nova Scotia, two hundred thousand.

That brings the estimated death toll to... Just under ninety million."

"In other news..."

-

Well, there you have it, the final chapter of Mistaken Identity. Hope it was worth the wait.

It took me a few minutes to hunt down my Lunar Silver Star Story Complete soundtrack CD, but it was worth it to hear 'Wings' again. To be honest, I think music is a big part of telling a story.

It's hard to compete with a visual medium like TV or movies, because first, in the space of ten seconds you can do a quick scene that could take an entire page and a few hours to write. Secondly, is music. Adding just a few notes on a flute can change a sad scene into a powerful one.

I do add a bit of music in here and there, when I think I can get away with it. Other times, I'll write up a scene in my head, and then discard it, since the only point was to do a single joke, or just find an excuse to squeeze in another song. Since this is the finale, I can get away with a deleted scene I guess.

So here's a quickie to show you what I mean. I'm shameless, I know.

--

Earl downshifted his Rig, and guided the sixteen wheeler around the corner. It had been a long drive, but he and his cargo were just a half mile away from the final destination, construction site in need of some steel girders. Cranking up the radio to drown out the constant honking that seemed to be everpresent in New York, he sang along aloud.

"I won't break my back for a million bucks, I can't take to my grave, so why put off 'till tomorrow what I could get do- huh?" There was a loud thud from overhead, and an upside down head with a dark braid dangling from it appeared outside his window.

"Will you turn that crap down?! I'm trying to have a battle to the death here, and that country junk is throwing me off!"

--

Appologies to Toby Keith, as I love his work. As you can see, that was just a shameless ploy to stick in a song and a joke, so that never got inserted.

Oh, review reply time, before I forget.

Bedos Thane - Apparently you love this story... Are you sure you've been reading _my work_? Ah, just kidding, thanks for the kind words, and you're very welcome for the free entertainment. Glad you like the jokes.

Yeah, one review, I know. I'd probably answer a few more questions, if you'd all actually _ask_ them.

Sigh.

Anyways, I have a metric ass-ton of scenes that I wrote that never actually made it into the story, as I mentioned before. Some of them have no real jokes in them, just, ideas for a scene to tell a little more story, or character interaction.

A lot of it doesn't fit in as the general flow of the story changes. Individual scenes that once had a place and made sense hit the cutting room floor as chapters took shape. Other times, I just couldn't get to my computer fast enough.

Originally, the Green Goblin/Mato Hibiki fight was much different, but I was in the shower at the time, and forgot a fair bit of it. In my defense, my hair needs a lot of conditioner. Or I need to cut off two feet of it. Either is good.

Also, there was going to be some interaction between Aunt May and Noir, but then it rolled around a bit, and I decided to place the story a little later on in the timeline, after she had died in the nineties era comics, so that one was gone too. I actually wrote a bit of it out when I was in Missouri, but decided against using it. On _paper_ no less.

As you've all noticed, I'm sure, I beat Noir around quite a bit. Well, not anymore, now the $#er's DEAD! Mwahahaha! Aaaahhh... Ahem. No, I honestly decided to kill him off somewhere after the end of the mini-sentinel fight. I was also going to have the X-men show up to help him along the way, and decided against that too.

I killed a bunch of them off instead. No, I'm not saying which ones, yet. But that skeleton in the tank was Wolverine's. Does that mean he's dead? I don't know, you tell me, he did get the adamantium ripped from his bones at least once in comics. Onslaught anyone?

The world Noir lives, sorry, lived in, was a much darker one than the other. That was a choice on my part, but you can blame it on Skuld. She needed a world to test her plans and creations on, and this was the one she picked. How will she do? I don't know, it's hard to say honestly. She obviously snapped, no? How this effects her plans, well, it won't be good for the people living there.

But you can bet that Peter Parker and Ben Riley will have something to say about that.

I haven't forgotten about Merlin and Arthur either, if any of you are worried about that. Oh no, I have plans for them. Twice now I've wanted to bring them back into the story, and both times, it just didn't fit in. I have a scene planned out though, so it should fit in rather well this time.

I researched the various states and populations for my grim death toll, as I wanted to be as realistic as I could... Barring the fact that I didn't DESTROY THE VERY EARTH ITSELF! Since Skuld still has yet to take it over, you can bet there's something to that lack of destruction. Bad mojo there.

Spidey and Ghost Rider got the boot from party as well for two reasons. One, dialogue between five people at once was annoying me, too much talking, not enough action. Two, I had planned for Peter to stick around, and honestly, forgot about the Rider a few times. Oops! So he got the boot too.

Spiderman three came out, and only gave me more evil ideas. I can honestly say that it's a bad thing for people when I get good ideas. Seriously, have you seen how bad I beat my characters up when I'm on a roll?

Out of all my promises from the last chapter, I only sorta copped out on the X-men thing. I gave a bit, but not much. Heck, I inserted that Mary Jane scene at the last minute too. I nearly finished the chapter, then went 'hell, I can stick MJ in here AND have a song too!' Honestly, it was the song that did it for me.

If it were up to me, I'd make this damn thing a musical or something. Forget the gripping story, let's have Mark Hamil in Guys 'n Dolls.

Joking aside, I had a hotspring bonus scene written up with the core cast, then decided not to include it here. Doesn't really have a place, but my two pages of ranting does.

Now, I don't want to get off on a rant... But it's too late 'cuz I already did. Ah, I'm shameless.

Ok, better wrap this thing up, I can hear snoring from here.

The next portion of the story has a title, and just so you won't have to go digging for it, I'll tell you now. I decided to use the Mistaken Identity header so people who liked the first will know it when they see it. People who hate the story will be easily able to avoid it. I added a subtitle because, hell, it worked for Riddick, didn't it? I guess, I just liked the sound of it when I was done.

Ok, so, you ready for it? Can I drag this out a little longer? No? Ok, ok, put down your torches and pitchforks, here it is.

Mistaken Identity II: Glass Universe.

If it drags on for another twenty chapters, and I'm _still_ not done, I know what I'm calling part three. Crap, no I don't... I just got three good ideas.

Shattered Glass, Broken Mirror, Fragments of Reality.

Which would you like?

Moving on, I snapped up the ending as a newscast, because after the verse of the first half, I wanted to go with something different.

So, questions, comments, suggestions, deep thoughts or shallow ones? Hate mail too I guess, since I may or may have not killed off several beloved characters, and Noir for sure.

I Promise to respond to any letters in the first chapter of the next half. Until then, thank you, dear reader, for sticking with me this far. It's been a blast.


End file.
